Mike Tomlin
Michael Pettaway Tomlin is an American professional football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League from 2007 to 2025. During his 19 seasons as head coach, Tomlin never finished with a losing record, the longest streak in NFL history. At the time of his resignation, Tomlin was the longest-tenured head coach in the four major North American sports leagues.
Tomlin began his NFL career as defensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings before joining Pittsburgh. As the Steelers head coach, he led them to 13 playoff appearances, eight division titles, three AFC Championship Games, two Super Bowl appearances, and a title in Super Bowl XLIII. At age 36, Tomlin was the youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl at the time. He is also tied with Chuck Noll for the most regular season wins in Steelers franchise history.
Early life
Tomlin was born on March 15, 1972, in Hampton, Virginia, the younger of two sons; his brother, Eddie, is three and a half years older. Tomlin's father, Ed, played football at Hampton Institute in the 1960s, was drafted by the Baltimore Colts, and later played for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. Ed died in January 2012 at age 63 from an apparent heart attack in Ocala, Florida. However, Tomlin hardly knew his birth father and was raised by his mother and stepfather, Julia and Leslie Copeland, who married when Tomlin was six years old.Tomlin graduated in 1990 from Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia. He graduated from the College of William and Mary with a sociology degree five years later, becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. As a wide receiver, Tomlin was a second-team All-Yankee Conference selection in 1994.
Coaching career
Collegiate assistant
Tomlin's coaching career began in 1995 as the wide receiver coach at Virginia Military Institute under head coach Bill Stewart. Tomlin spent the 1996 season as a graduate assistant at the University of Memphis, where he worked with the defensive backs and special teams. Following a brief stint on the University of Tennessee at Martin's coaching staff, Tomlin was hired by Arkansas State University in 1997 to coach its defensive backs. He stayed there for two seasons before being hired as the defensive backs coach by the University of Cincinnati.Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2001–2005)
In 2001, Tomlin was hired as the defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under head coach Tony Dungy, where Tomlin first learned the Tampa 2 defense that he would use in later coaching jobs.Tomlin was retained under new head coach Jon Gruden, and in 2002 and 2005, the Buccaneers led the NFL in total defense. During Tomlin's tenure, the defense never ranked worse than sixth overall. When the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003, they recorded a Super Bowl-record five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.
Minnesota Vikings (2006)
In 2006, Tomlin was selected by Vikings' head coach Brad Childress to be his defensive coordinator.Two of the players on the Vikings roster were older than Tomlin, and Tomlin had been a teammate of Vikings safety Darren Sharper while at William and Mary. The 2006 Vikings finished with the NFL's eighth-best overall defense, but had the unusual distinction of finishing as the top-ranked defense against the run and the worst-ranked defense against the pass.
Pittsburgh Steelers (2007–2025)
Hiring and Super Bowl XLIII: 2007–2009
After spending 2006 as the Vikings' defensive coordinator, Tomlin was selected to interview for the vacant head coaching position with the 2005 Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. With only a year of experience as a defensive coordinator, Tomlin was hired on January 27, 2007, to become the 16th head coach in franchise history, replacing Bill Cowher, who retired after spending 15 years with the team. Tomlin had also interviewed for the head coaching vacancy with the Miami Dolphins, a job that eventually went to former Indiana head coach Cam Cameron. With Tomlin, the Steelers continued a trend of hiring head coaches in their 30s. The others were Cowher, Chuck Noll, Bill Austin, John Michelosen, Jim Leonard, Aldo Donelli, Walt Kiesling, Johnny "Blood" McNally, and Joe Bach.Tomlin is the 10th African-American head coach in NFL history and the first for the Steelers. Then-Steelers owner Dan Rooney had served as the head of the NFL's diversity committee and proposed the Rooney Rule, requiring that teams interview at least one minority candidate when hiring a new head coach. Although Tomlin's ascension to an NFL head coaching job has been cited as evidence of the rule working as intended, Rooney himself disputed this, as he had already interviewed a minority candidate prior to interviewing Tomlin.
The Rooney Rule dictates that for all head-coaching openings, each team must interview at least one minority candidate. But here's what's interesting: The coach who might be the Rooney Rule's greatest advertisement didn't benefit from it. "Let me say this: Mike Tomlin was not part of the Rooney Rule," Rooney said. "We had already interviewed Ron Rivera , and so that fulfilled the obligation," Rooney said. "We went on, had heard about Mike, called him in and talked to him. He was very impressive."
Terms of Tomlin's contract were not officially released. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported a four-year deal paying $2.5 million per year, with an option for a fifth year.
In contrast to Bill Cowher, who retained only longtime running backs coach Dick Hoak from Chuck Noll's staff, Tomlin retained many of Cowher's assistants, most notably defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, whose defensive philosophy contrasted with Tomlin's. This was done in order to keep team chemistry with the players, since the team was only one year removed from a Super Bowl win at the time of Tomlin's hiring. In 2007, the Steelers finished with the top-ranked defense in the NFL. Tomlin led the Steelers to the AFC North Division championship and a 10–6 record in his first year as head coach. The Steelers narrowly lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Jacksonville Jaguars by a score of 31–29. Tomlin began his career with a 15–7 record in regular season play—as did his predecessor Cowher and all-time win-leader Don Shula. Tomlin set a Steelers record for most wins, after winning 22 games in his first two seasons as head coach while also becoming the first coach in franchise history to win division titles in his first two seasons.
When the Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the 2008 AFC Championship Game, Tomlin became the youngest NFL head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl. He also became the third African-American to coach a team to the Super Bowl, following Chicago's Lovie Smith and Indianapolis's Tony Dungy, the two opposing coaches in Super Bowl XLI. On January 29, 2009, Tomlin was named the 2008 Motorola NFL Coach of the Year. Three days later, at age 36, he became the youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl when the Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII by a score of 27–23. The previous record was held by Jon Gruden, who was 39 when he won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coincidentally, Tomlin was the defensive backs coach under Gruden when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and was a key component in their success that year. Tomlin's record was eclipsed by Sean McVay, who was 303 days younger when winning Super Bowl LVI.
Super Bowl XLV loss and Killer B's Era: 2010–2016
On July 13, 2010, Tomlin signed a three-year contract extension with the Steelers. That season, he coached the Steelers to a 12–4 record and led them to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years. In Super Bowl XLV, the Steelers lost to the Green Bay Packers by a score of 31–25.On November 13, 2011, Tomlin won his 50th game as the Steelers' head coach with a 24–17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Of the 16 head coaches in franchise history, Tomlin was the fourth to reach this milestone. The Steelers recorded another 12–4 regular season mark in the 2011 season. Their season ended in the Wild Card Round with a 29–23 overtime road loss to the Denver Broncos.
On July 24, 2012, Tomlin received a three-year contract extension through the 2016 season. The financial terms were not disclosed. In the 2012 season, the Steelers finished with an 8–8 record after struggling with injuries to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the offensive line while also adjusting to the system of new offensive coordinator Todd Haley. It was the second time the Steelers failed to make the playoffs under Tomlin's tenure as head coach.
Facing the Baltimore Ravens on November 28, 2013, in a primetime Thanksgiving Day game with major playoff implications, Tomlin became the subject of controversy when video replay showed him interfering with a kick return. With the Steelers trailing 13–7 in the third quarter, Tomlin stood just off the field along the visiting team's sideline as Baltimore's Jacoby Jones broke free on a kickoff return for a potential game-breaking touchdown. Tomlin, with his back to the approaching play, appeared to glance over his shoulder then place his foot briefly onto the field as he jumped out of the way, causing Jones to veer inside where he was tackled. Several Ravens players claimed Tomlin had intentionally interfered with Jones; if officials had agreed, a touchdown could have been awarded to the Ravens based on the palpably unfair act. However, no penalty was called for interference or for standing in the white border area reserved for the officiating crew. Whether it was intentional or not, Tomlin was widely criticized in the media. Following the game, Tomlin defended himself, stating he had simply wandered too close to the field while watching the play on the stadium's Jumbotron, a mistake he said coaches often make. The league subsequently announced it was investigating the matter, with the potential of a heavy fine and forfeited draft picks. On December 4, 2013, the NFL announced that they had fined Tomlin $100,000, and hinted it was considering stripping the Steelers of one or more draft picks because his actions affected the play on the field. The $100,000 fine was tied for the second-highest for a coach in NFL history and was also tied for the highest for a coach who does not also have the powers of general manager. Then-Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice was fined $100,000 in 2005 for scalping Super Bowl tickets. Tomlin led the Steelers to another 8–8 record in the 2013 season, missing the postseason.
Tomlin led the Steelers to improvement in the 2014 season, going 11–5 and winning the AFC North. The team saw their season end in the Wild Card Round to the Baltimore Ravens in a 30–17 loss. The 2014 season saw the birth of the Killer B's era in which Roethlisberger along with wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le'Veon Bell all hit their primes.
In the 2015 season, Tomlin and the Steelers recorded a 10–6 record, which qualified the team for the postseason. The Steelers narrowly beat the Cincinnati Bengals on the road by a score of 18–16 in the Wild Card Round before losing to the Denver Broncos on the road by a score of 23–16 in the Divisional Round.
The 2016 season marked significant improvement for the Steelers. Tomlin led the team to an 11–5 record as they won seven straight games to finish the season. The Steelers finished atop the AFC North and defeated the Miami Dolphins 30–12 in the Wild Card Round and the Kansas City Chiefs 18–16 in the Divisional Round. However, in their first AFC Championship Game since 2010, the Steelers fell on the road to the New England Patriots 36–17.