Mike Tomlin

College

Tomlin started out as a wide receivers coach at Virginia Military Institute in 1995 and then worked with defensive backs and special teams as a graduate assistant at the University of Memphis in 1996. After two seasons at Arkansas State University as the wide receivers and defensive backs coach, he moved to the University of Cincinnati. There he coached defensive backs from 1999 to 2000.

NFL

In 2001, at the age of 29, Tomlin landed his first NFL job, coaching defensive backs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Two years later the team won its first Super Bowl. He stayed with the Buccaneers through 2005, and the Minnesota Vikings hired him as defensive coordinator in 2006. Under Tomlin, Minnesota’s defense dramatically improved.

After just one season with the Vikings, Tomlin was hired as head coach of the Steelers in January 2007, following Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, a pair of legends who had coached the team for a combined 38 years. Tomlin’s hiring as the team’s first Black head coach came four years after the NFL had adopted the Rooney Rule, which requires that a team with a head coaching vacancy interview at least one minority candidate. It was named for Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who had suggested it. However, Rooney stated that “Mike Tomlin was not part of the Rooney Rule,” since Pittsburgh had already interviewed Ron Rivera, who is Hispanic.

In Tomlin’s first year as coach, the Steelers finished 10–6, a two-game improvement over their previous year, and won the American Football Conference North Division title before getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. In the 2008 season they posted a 12–4 record, then pulled out a dramatic 27–23 victory in Super Bowl XLIII (2009) over the Arizona Cardinals. With 42 seconds left in the game, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger connected with receiver Santonio Holmes on a 6-yard touchdown pass to give the Steelers the lead. The 36-year-old Tomlin became the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl; he was later surpassed by Sean McVay in 2022. In addition, it was Pittsburgh’s sixth Super Bowl, more than any other team to that point.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

After a lackluster 2009 season, Tomlin led the Steelers to another 12–4 record in 2010, but they lost Super Bowl XLV (2011) to the Green Bay Packers, 31–25. He and Pittsburgh never returned to the Super Bowl, although the Steelers put together several excellent seasons, including 2017, when they went 13–3, the best record of Tomlin’s reign. However, that season the Steelers were eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Despite his undeniable success as a coach—through his first 17 seasons, Tomlin had a winning percentage of .633 in the regular season—some Steelers fans became impatient with him because of the team’s lack of playoff success. Nevertheless, in June 2024 the Steelers and Tomlin agreed to a three-year contract extension. “Mike Tomlin’s leadership and commitment to the Steelers have been pivotal to our success during his first 17 years as head coach,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a press release, adding that the team was confident that Tomlin could “guide the team back to winning playoff games and championships.”

Following that mutual commitment, Tomlin coached the Steelers to another winning season in 2025–26. However, the team again lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs. On January 13, 2026, Tomlin resigned as head coach.