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Brooke Pryor
Multiple Authors
For the first time in two decades, Mike Tomlin won’t be on an NFL sideline this fall.
Tomlin, known for his one-of-a-kind oration, will be in the studio instead.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach is joining NBC’s Sunday night pregame show, “Football Night in America,” as a studio analyst, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.
Talks between Tomlin and the network picked up steam in Augusta, Georgia, two weeks ago, sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Tomlin, 53, is the second former Steelers head coach to make a foray into broadcasting, joining his predecessor, Bill Cowher, who joined CBS as a studio analyst in 2007 after stepping down from the Steelers. Cowher never returned to coaching.
Tomlin resigned as the Steelers’ head coach in January after 19 seasons at the helm of the franchise. The longest-tenured head coach of a North American professional sports franchise prior to his resignation, Tomlin compiled a 193-114-2 regular-season record, 8-12 postseason record and never finished below .500.
At 36, Tomlin won Super Bowl XLIII in his second season with the Steelers, becoming the youngest head coach at the time to win a Super Bowl until Sean McVay, a younger 36, won the Lombardi Trophy in February 2022.
The Steelers returned to the Super Bowl the next year, but they lost to Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers. Tomlin never returned to the Super Bowl in his final 15 seasons, and his recent postseason forays were fruitless. Tomlin’s last postseason victory was an 18-16 win against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016, and his final game on the sideline in Pittsburgh was a 30-6 loss in a wild-card game to the Houston Texans in January.
The Athletic first reported Tomlin’s hiring at NBC on Tuesday.
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