Former Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin Looks For A TV Gig
For the first time in two decades, fans won’t see Mike Tomlin stalking a Pittsburgh Steelers sideline when the NFL season kicks off in September. But that doesn’t mean they won’t see him at all.
The longtime Steelers head coach recently signed on with a sports media agency The Montag Group, which is looking for broadcast deals that could see Tomlin calling games as an analyst beginning next season. Front Office Sports first reported the arrangement on Wednesday.
Tomlin accumulated 193 wins, the most of any Black head coach in NFL history over his 19 seasons in Pittsburgh. His resignation after the Steelers’ 30-6 playoff loss to the Houston Texans in January shocked many fans. The Steelers job is considered the NFL’s most stable coaching role, with only three people–Tomlin, Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll holding the job since 1969. Despite winning a Super Bowl early in his tenure and coaching his team to another one, Tomlin was recently criticized for not winning a playoff game since 2017. Still, the Steelers probably would not have fired him had he not resigned.
Some speculated that Tomlin’s next role might be in television rather than coaching elsewhere after he resigned, but he hadn’t commented publicly on his future. He’s entering a market where former players and coaches can easily make as much or more in front of the camera than they did in the NFL. Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady makes a reported $37.5 million per year as a Fox Sports NFL analyst. Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay turned down a reported 5-year, $100 million offer in 2022 to leave coaching and join streamer Amazon Prime Video, which has rights to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football games.
Networks and streamers are retooling on-air talent for their lucrative NFL broadcasts and could compete for Tomlin’s services. NBC this month dropped former coach and longtime Sunday Night Football analyst Tony Dungy, while the NFL is already renegotiating its current 11-year, $110 billion broadcast and streaming rights deals.