Mike Tomlin’s Record Of NFL Longest Tenured Coach To Be Broken As His Contract Extension Suffers A Set Back.
The late-season rumors about Mike Tomlin leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers with a year remaining on his contract turned out to be unfounded.
Tomlin’s long-time rival in the AFC North didn’t believe the speculation anyhow.
Like a lot of people, John Harbaugh didn’t think Tomlin was going anywhere, and he also couldn’t envision the Steelers being coached by anyone else.
No and no,” Harbaugh said Tuesday at the NFL Combine when he was asked about each scenario. “No and no. I have much respect, much love for coach Tomlin, for the Steelers organization, for the players.”
Tomlin, who remains in the final year of his contract but is expected to receive an extension, is the NFL’s longest tenured coach, having spent 17 seasons with the Steelers. Harbaugh is right on his heels, having joined the Ravens in 2008, a year after Tomlin’s arrival in Pittsburgh.
Harbaugh talked of the 1987 season that he spent at Pitt as tight ends coach and marveled at monstrous running back Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, father of Walter Payton Man of the Year winner Cameron Heyward.
“First guy ever, 300-plus pounds to lead a BYU defensive back down the sideline and run another 40 yards for a touchdown,” Harbaugh said of the elder Heyward.
“I think (Cameron) epitomizes them now as well, their tradition. So, I would say exactly ‘no and no’ to both those questions (about Tomlin).”
Like Tomlin, Harbaugh has won one Super Bowl title. Like Tomlin, it’s been more than a decade since he’s coached in the biggest game. The Ravens’ last appearance was after the 2012 season.
Still, the Ravens have stood by Harbaugh the way the Steelers have with Tomlin. Harbaugh survived a three-year stretch from 2015-17 when Baltimore didn’t reach the playoffs, and he is 2-5 in his past seven playoff games, including a loss in the 2023 AFC championship game.
We’ve looked at franchises like the Steelers over the years and always had an admiration for the way they conducted business,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said. “Obviously, we are bitter rivals, but we believe continuity is critical to success in many different ways.
“From a coaching staff, the system is in place from the offense, the defense, having the same schemes. Players having the same coaches year after year is critical and from a scouting perspective, building out your processes and the way you scout players, having the same scouts evaluating players every year, we believe it’s critically important to our success.”