Tomlin shut down speculation he could be in the mix to fill college coaching vacancies at USC or LSU at the end of his weekly press conference Tuesday. "Hey guys, I don't have time for that speculation," Tomlin said. "I mean, that's a joke to me. I got one of the best jobs in all of professional sport. Why would I have any interest in coaching college football?
"That will be the last time I address it. Not only today, but moving forward. Never say never, but never. OK? Anybody else got any questions about any college jobs. There's not a booster with a big enough blank check."
Back up the god damn Brinks truck for Tomlin. 757 native, super bowl champion, instant credibility - recruiting will shoot up like a rocket and he we will attract the top OC / DCs in the country to come work for him. Ultimate CEO-type. Absolute home run hire.
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He was talking about USC and LSU, never said anything about VT. Tomlin is coming home boys!
Every time I see that gif I have the same reaction 😂😂
he's angry at it even being a suggestion
message board wet dream
Yeah, the "There's not a booster with a big enough blank check." line pretty much tells me he has zero interest in any college coaching, regardless of who it is.
Never understood the Tomlin love, he won a SB with Cowhers team and has done nothing since. With that D and Big Ben he should have had a much better record than what he actually has accomplished.
I said something similar in another thread. He's got a high floor because he gets the most out his guys when their backs are against the wall, but his teams seem to lay eggs in some big situations.
With that said, I think he would be a great college coach; he has experience and connections out the wazoo and would have instant credibility to recruit against pretty much any of the big boys. But as this video says it isn't happening anywhere especially not at VT. He's got one of the best gigs out there (job security through the roof and ownership that will put the team in a position to succeed), he's not really a salesman/BS-er so I dont think the idea of recruiting and boosters would appeal to him in the slightest.
Tomlin has never had a losing season in 14 years as a head coach. That is insane in the NFL. They went to the super bowl two years after winning it, another AFC championship after that, and most years are in the playoffs, usually with 12+ wins. The NFL isn't like college football where the best programs win all their games and go to the championship every year. The entire system is designed to force regression to the mean, but under Tomlin the Steelers have been consistently great for over a decade.
In the last decade, they've only won 2 playoff games, so IMO it's a stretch to call that consistently great. They're probably consistently "good".
I think he is a good coach, but not the class of the league by any means. For example, getting boat raced by the Blake Bortles-led Jags at home in the playoffs is not particularly inspiring, but pulling an 8-8 season out of the hat with a Frankenstein QB of Duck Hodges/Mason Rudolph is very impressive.
Edit: added a little more context
The love for him has nothing to do with his coaching, and everything to do with his recruiting. He has instant credibility in any recruit's home.
Its tough to call that team Cowher's team since Conger wasn't the GM and often didn't get a lot of say in personnel.
Also comparing the teams, The offense really only had Ben, Hines, Heath, and Max Starks from Cohwer's last year. Willie Parker was there but injured. The rest were different.
Defense is better as Pittsburgh seems to be king of finding guys that play for 15 years. But outside of the starters not a lot of the team was the same. James Harrison went from backup to starter, which with him 8/11 defensive starters were on cowhers team. I only see one other defensive player on both teams.
I kind of thought he came off like a jerk with his response although maybe he wanted to so that he wouldn't be asked about it anymore.
That would be my guess. It sounded like he was getting asked about it a LOT and he was just tying to close off that line of questions as emphatically as possible. There may be previous questions he answered more diplomatically that we didn't see.
I always assumed it was just a rumor on message boards that he would coach in college. Maybe he was getting blown up about it.
Not sure about how to embed images, but there's a Brett McMurphy tweet that says "Former USC QB Carson Palmer tells @dpshow the " front-runners" for USC job include Penn State's James Franklin, Iowa State's Matt Campbell, Cincinnati's Luke Fickell & Steelers coach Mike Tomlin." And looks like Tomlin's Twitter blew up because of that, then a lot of people posted his response.
this time it's because Carson Palmer, who pretty much doesn't watch any football and doesn't actively try to maintain NFL ties as he lives on a ranch in Idaho, said something on the dan patrick radio show about Mike Tomlin to USC and that Palmer is "as involved as they let me be" in the USC coaching search. Fwiw, Carson Palmer lost a $100 bet a few years ago with Boomer Esiason regarding Palmer's claim that the Bengals would pass over Joe Burrow.
basically Palmer doesn't realize that people actually listen to what he says and it becomes news items. maybe Tomlin's name was kicked around internally at USC for all the same reasons it is here. But it's pretty clear Tomlin views college as a step down in terms of career move.
I'm a little shocked this was even asked in a press conference because the idea that one of the most successful NFL coaches of the past decade+ would entertain a college position is patently absurd. I get that a lot of people only watch CFB and so there's a warped sense of popularity around the leagues, but the NFL is significantly more popular than CFB and even the worst NFL franchise has more money and more prestige than the biggest athletic department. Even if the Steelers did (foolishly) fire him, he'd have another job offer instantly. Almost as delusional as people that throw out McVay's name when talking about USC and other jobs.
Thinking on this, can anyone recall a single example of a successful NFL coach going to the lower levels? You certainly see coaches with little success go back to the college game (Saban, Spurrier, Chip Kelly, etc, etc) and semi-retired coaches with no prospects for a future job (Herm Edwards), but I can't think of any case where a successful coach goes down a level.
See my comment above - regardless of his intent, apparently Carson Palmer said he was one of three front runners for the job. That's why they asked.
Harbaugh was 44-19 with a Super Bowl appearance at the 49ers and left for Michigan.
IIRC Harbaugh was at odds with the 49'ers front office. The 49'ers and Harbaugh agreed mutually to part ways.
Ohh, this is a great pull. With only 4 years of NFL experience and a style that reportedly rubbed NFL players/execs the wrong way it's a slightly different situation but still a strong counter-example.
"I'm not gonna be the Alabama coach"
To be fair, it sort of has to be a firm no, until it's publicly announced.
So.... Tomlin to VT confirmed?
Me thinks he doth protest too much.
Anybody else imagine Tomlin recruiting? He walks into the house and says "you are going to play for me. That's it, no backtalking, no other trips. You are playing for me."
MT: "You're mine. Pack your shit."
Player: "But I'm not ready to commit yet"
MT:
This is perfect. Needs to go plaid!
Honestly I think this is how Mack Brown recruits too
Using the scientifically proven anagram method, Mike Tomlin's full birth name, "Michael Pettaway Tomlin", anagrams to "Mathematically Nope Wit".
I'm pretty sure this mean's he's not coming here (I'll excuse the misspelling of Whit Babcock's name for now)
Yeah, but Mike P. Tomlin anagrams to Milk Pimento, so...
I would love to be there the first time some high school coach who wears all of his district title championship rings demands Tomlin call him "Coach" and not his first name.
He's making $8M this year. Per the current posted salaries (salary alone) that would place him as the 5th highest in all of college football behind Dabo, Saban, David Shaw (really), and Ogeron. Hard to see how we can afford him unless we get a major hometown (state) discount.
https://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/coach
We can't and that is only part of the reason it is a pipedream.
Tired: Tomlin working for cheap at VT to restore them to greatness
Wired: Tomlin working for free to restore his alma mater W&M to greatness
Shaw only gets paid that much because it would be bad PR for Stanford to have their coach living in a cardboard box. His salary is probably 85% housing stipend
...bet he didn't blink.
I sure hope no one here honestly thought there was a chance that Mike Tomlin, superbowl winning head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a NFL team famous for head coaching stability, would leave his NFL job for Virginia Tech.
It was completely nonsensical from the start, but there was definitely a non-zero number of people who continue to insist he needs to be considered an option "because VA."
You're right. We think the reigning super bowl champ will give up his job to come to VT.
if he won't, then I don't want him
Hell ya!
It was more about if the Steelers grumbling fans for their war and the ownership became stupid enough to fire him.
I have exactly zero interest in having that person as our head coach.
That guy handles the press like butter.
Hey this is all in fun!
It is laughable this is even on the site.
It's just an escape man. We have a team that is floundering and underperforming, a coach that is a lame duck, it's not basketball season yet, and the University is trying to figure out how to deal with unruly fans in the stands...but yet keep them there despite the product on the field. Just passing the time.
MiKe tOmLiN WoUlD Be a GoOd iDeA fOr VT's NeXT CoaCH
He knows what it's like coaching a team with two Hokies, now he wants to coach a team with all Hokies.
Book em, Dano
Me reading this thread.....
Denbigh High's own Mike Tomlin.
That's all I came here to say, really.