Mike Tomlin is the longest-tenured African-American coach in the NFL. He’s been guiding the Pittsburgh Steelers for 14 seasons and never had a losing record.
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The Steelers aren’t going to mess around with a winning formula so they locked up Tomlin for another three years at least, signing the future Hall of Famer through 2024.
Stability at the top has always been the mission for the Steelers who have only had three head coaches since 1969 (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin).
BREAKING: @Steelers sign HC Mike Tomlin to three-year contract extension through 2024 season. pic.twitter.com/DqjTynWdD6
— NFL (@NFL) April 20, 2021
The Steelers started off strong, winning their first 11 games and then fizzled out down the stretch, losing four of their last five games of the COVID 2020 NFL season.
Of course, most Steelers fans refused to look at the glass as half full. Some had delusions of grandeur about another Super Bowl title, but unfortunately Big Ben was breaking down more and more each week and Tomlin couldn’t stop the psychological downward spiral that occurred in a season unlike any other.
“I am pleased to announce we have extended Mike Tomlin’s contract through the 2024 season,” Steelers President Art Rooney II said. “Mike is one of the most successful head coaches in the National Football League, and we are confident in his leadership to continue to lead our team as we work to win another championship.”
Tomlin carries a 145-78-1 (.650) record into the 2021 season. He’s currently the third-longest tenured coach in the NFL and tied late coach Marty Schottenheimer as the only two coaches in NFL history to start their coaching careers with 14 winning seasons.
Those “Fire Tomlin” grumblings that seem to surface every season the Steelers don’t win a Super Bowl weren’t any louder than usual. Some people just got a little bolder with their opinion that the Steelers should move on for the sake of moving on.
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Luckily for Steelers fans, The Rooneys aren’t as emotional, and what they saw last season was a head coach who navigated his team to 11 straight NFL wins and a 12-4 record in a pandemic.
How many NFL coaches were able to do that?
Understanding value is one of the necessary traits for anyone conducting business in pro sports. The Steelers value what they have in Tomlin and how he approaches his job and maintains a standard of excellence that few head coaches can achieve.
