As the outside noise regarding the status of Steelers coach Mike Tomlin increases, the question becomes whether owner Art Rooney II will hear it.
Making things louder is the involvement of voices like former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and former Steelers linebacker James Harrison. Roethlisberger recently said on his podcast it’s perhaps time for a fresh start, for the team and for Tomlin.
Harrison shared a similar sentiment on his podcast with Joe Haden, via ESPN.com: “I have never been a person that thought Coach Tomlin was a great coach. I thought he was a good [coach]. . . . A good coach gets you to play to your potential. And right now, the players we have on that team I have seen play, they’re not playing up to their potential. . . . Something has to be done, and I know the Steelers historically don’t move on from coaches. But I think it’s time that history be made.”
The history of the last 56 years is that the Steelers stubbornly resist change. Three coaches since 1969. It’s their thing. It’s the high-school hairdo they won’t change. The jacket on which they once got a compliment and will never take off.
And here’s something that occurred to me this morning, while discussing the situation with Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan on PFT Live.
Rooney was born in 1952, two weeks to the day before the Steelers started the first season with Joe Bach as the new head coach. In 1954, Walt Kiesling took the job. Three years later, it was Buddy Parker. After seven years (the longest tenure for any Steelers coach at the time, by far), Mike Nixon replaced Parker. One 2-12 season later, Bill Austin embarked on a three-year run that ended with a record of 11-28-3.
In all, the Steelers had 15 coaching changes in the 35 years from 1933 through 1968.
Then came Chuck Noll, hired by the Steelers when Rooney was 16. And the instability the team had during Rooney’s early years became a 23-year run under Noll.
If not enough of those yellow seats behind Rooney are filled during the two remaining 2025 home games (including a Week 15 Monday nighter that could get very ugly if they lose to the Ravens on Sunday), and if Rooney decides it really is time for a change, what happens next?
That’s always been the most practical impediment to moving on from Tomlin. Will the Steelers find a better coach?
Fillipponi suggested that Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman could be the next guy. Whoever it is, the job will be very attractive because the Steelers don’t fire coaches. They’ll have many coaches to choose from. They’ll need to choose right, like they did in 2007 when it came down to Tomlin or Russ Grimm.
The risk of not hiring the right one could keep Rooney from getting to the point where he hires a new one. As he was growing up, the Steelers couldn’t get it right. Fear of getting it wrong all over again, and sparking a return of the revolving door of decades gone by, could be one of the reasons Rooney will show patience.
Even if his customers have gotten to the point where they collectively have little, if any.
