Within a half hour of Mike Tomlin stepping down as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand had already named a likely landing spot for the head coach. But it wasn’t a football team.
Marchand called FOX Sports the “favorite” to land Tomlin if he pursues a job in the television industry.
“Fox, ESPN, NBC, CBS and Amazon Prime Video would all be better with Tomlin to impart his Tomlin-isms via the small screen. He can likely receive multi-million dollar offers from all of them,” wrote Marchand.
“Fox is considered the favorite, as it has not filled Jimmy Johnson’s seat on Fox’s NFL studio show following Johnson’s retirement. “Fox NFL Sunday,” featuring Michael Strahan, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Rob Gronkowski, has a top-line resume requirement:
“Must be a Hall of Famer or future Hall of Famer.”
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported Tuesday that Tomlin told his team in a meeting that afternoon he was stepping down from his position. Tomlin is departing the franchise after 19 seasons.
He posted a 193-114-2 record in the regular season. His 193 wins is tied with Chuck Noll for the most in the franchise’s history. Tomlin also won a Super Bowl and went 8-12 in the postseason.
But Tomlin lost his seven playoff contests in Pittsburgh. The Steelers fell 30-6 to the Houston Texans in the AFC wild card round Monday night.
The last time the Steelers won a playoff game was January 2017.
Could Mike Tomlin Pursue a Television Career?
The idea of Tomlin going into TV is not a new idea. He’s so eloquent and such a wordsmith in front of the media that broadcasters have argued for years he could enter the television industry when he’s done coaching.
January 13 marked the end of his Steelers coaching career. The question is whether Tomlin will coach elsewhere.
And when.
He could go the Sean Payton route and take a year off. Payton had the very job that Marchand called the one Tomlin is most likely to land in TV — a spot on the FOX Sports pregame show desk.
That could get very interesting. Terry Bradshaw, who has been a broadcaster on that pregame show since its inception, has also been a Tomlin critic for years.
Tomlin, though, didn’t exactly sound excited about the TV industry when NFL Network’s Rich Eisen asked him about it on Wednesday, January 7.
“I’m institutionalized, man, I’ve gotta have it,” Tomlin said of coaching on The Rich Eisen Show, via Steelers Now’s Chris Ward. “I just love the challenges that week-in and week-out, that this job provides. The growth in it. The collective growth. The individual growth. A lot of lessons I’ve learned in life have kinda been through my football experience.
“I’ve been on a team every year of my life since 1980. And so, I really appreciate it.”
Steelers Still Have Tomlin Under Contract: Report
Terms like “stepping down,” “fired,” and “parting ways” are often used interchangeably among fans. But that language really matters, especially in Tomlin’s case.
If he elects not to pursue a television career, and another team wants to hire him, the Steelers reportedly still retain his rights because he was not fired. Tomlin’s contract doesn’t expire until after 2027.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz addressed the situation on X Tuesday afternoon.
“He would be in ultra high demand, should he still want to coach — even if he takes a year off,” Schultz wrote. “Translation: there is a scenario in which Pittsburgh could trade him down the road (eg, Sean Payton).”
Payton didn’t come cheaply in a trade either. The New Orleans Saints received a 2023 first-round pick (No. 29 overall) and a 2024 second-round pick from the Denver Broncos for Payton and a New Orleans 2024 third-round choice.
The Steelers could receive similar draft compensation if another NFL teams wants to hire Tomlin this offseason or next.
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