Despite some speculation from talking heads that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin could leave Pittsburgh for the NCAA, the head coach made it abundantly clear today that he has no interest in pivoting to college football.
“Hey guys, I don’t have time for that speculation,” Tomlin said when asked about the rumblings. “That’s a joke to me. I have one of the best jobs in all professional sports. Why would I have any interests in coaching college football? That will be the last time I address that and not only today but moving forward. Never say never — but never. OK? Anybody else have any questions about college jobs? There is not a booster with a big enough blank check.”
Mark Kaboly of The Athletic provides a great explanation of how we even got to this point. A handful of pundits had previously connected Tomlin to jobs at USC and LSU, and Kaboly opines that the whole story was a “media creation.”
As Kaboly writes, Tomlin’s connection to neither the USC job nor the LSU job made a whole lot of sense. He has no connection to the schools, he’d be taking a proverbial step back in terms of job status, and the salary improvement would be insignificant. However, even if there was no truth to the “rumors,” those whispers got loud enough to warrant a question at a press conference.
Tomlin has spent 14 years in Pittsburgh, making nine playoffs and winning one Super Bowl.
There are few people more entertaining to watch than a pissed off Steeler head coach, from Noll to Cowher and now Tomlin. And man, was he kissed about that reporter’s question today.
His name is Tim Benz and he writes for the Tribune Review.
Responding to annoying reporters comes with the job so a HC who can’t deal with that should never have presented himself as a candidate in the first place. Like Uncle, I find pissed off coaches pretty entertaining. My two favorites were Dennis Green (“The Bears are who we thought they were”) and Jim Mora (“Playoffs?…don’t talk about playoffs”)
don’t forget “You play to win the game.”
– Herm Edwards
Herm certainly deserves an honorable mention for that.
Does the reporter who asked that question have zero dignity and self respect, or are they somehow that dumb? That’s just humiliating. Even if Tomlin were fired by the Steelers, he’d have a new NFL HC gig pretty quick unless it was due to some scandal.
They give just about anyone a press pass these days. Someone is gonna ask the question and I guarantee the one that asked the question is twisting it into he was so angry there must be truth to it.
Actually he is the columnist for the Pgh Tribune Review.
Tim Benz is a turd. He used to run the morning show on WDVE too and his sports takes have always been more about stirring the pot than quality insights. He loves to be the controversial guy, so no wonder he asks the unnecessarily controversial question
Ummm aren’t reporters supposed to sometimes ask about things, even rumors, that may be uncomfortable for the other person? Yeah it’s kinda silly to think he’d leave but it’s not our of bounds to ask a question about speculation
Grew up in Pittsburgh. We used to have some decorum.
that’s to suggest that said reporter didnt just pull that “rumor” out of you-know-where.
Agreed. I’m no fan of Benz, but he was only the messenger here. Carson Palmer, Doug Whaley and others sent this baloney into hyperspace. Given how much attention it was getting, how could the question not be asked? Tomlin knew it was coming and his response was tremendous
Yeah I’m with you. I don’t think that question was a surprise to Tomlin at all. I’m not saying he rehearsed his answer, I don’t at all think he did. I just think that part of his annoyance was his hoping that someone wasn’t going to bring it up.
Jerome Bettis got asked about Tomlin’s response (sorry I forget the source) and essentially said that Tomlin has never had to deal with that type of speculation before because of how successful he’s been so it being implied that he was in the hot seat rubbed him the wrong way, and also that most NFL coaches would view college coaching as a step down. I thought Bettis was pretty much spot on.
It’s more then just silly. It’s a pretty obvious made up rumor that only a low tier reporter would fall for and actually ask about. Some speculation is worth asking about, but that rumor is just nonsense.
Virtually all of our sports media has become worthless. Benz is no exception. Doesn’t have to be a dime store troll, but chooses to be because it’s easy.
Do they publish “College Football Coaching For Dummies”?
Finally someone says college is a massive downgrade out loud. Look at Urban Meyer.
im sure the college stans are punching air right now.
What about that guy at Bama?
Much better to have the question asked and answered rather than read countless PFR articles based on Twitter comments and talking head podcasts for the next month.