Mike Tomlin isn’t interested in the fame that comes with being in front of a national audience on Hard Knocks. He told the media on Tuesday that he wouldn’t even be watching the show. That’s probably because he is begrudgingly the star of the HBO show.
The first episode was very Pittsburgh Steelers heavy. This season features the entire AFC North division, but Tomlin and the Steelers got the overwhelming majority of screen time Tuesday night.
If you haven’t watched it, you absolutely must for the insight into how Tomlin is behind closed doors. His press conference persona and the way he acts with his coaching staff and players are two different things.
“Pittsburgh Steelers fans that want Mike Tomlin fired should watch ‘Hard Knocks’, & tell me who you want to play for in the AFC North,” former Steeler Ryan Clark wrote on X. “The man was prophetic speaking life into his team for the Bengals’ win. The clarity in which he delivers a message is far beyond his contemporaries.”
The energy level was in stark contrast to that of John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski, and Zac Taylor. All three are excellent and successful coaches, but Tomlin very clearly brought a different kind of energy.
Just look at the way he rallied around George Pickens following the pick-six early in the game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Or the way he challenged Nick Herbig and got him to respond against OT Orlando Brown Jr.
There is a reason that his teams have never given up on him, and he’s consistently gotten the best out of sometimes bad groups. Think back to the Duck Hodges year in 2019, for example. That team had no business going .500, but Tomlin kept everyone on schedule and squeezed a 3-3 record out of Hodges.
“Mike Tomlin understands the psychology of a player,” Kimberley A. Martin said via ESPN’s Unsportsmanlike this morning. “The best teachers understand that you can’t teach all the students the same way. Tomlin is such a good motivator. He’s guaranteed to get you five wins just off of being Mike Tomlin.”
The biggest critique, other than his recent playoff record, is that Tomlin hasn’t had the best coordinators or doesn’t have much of a coaching tree. His coaching staff sure seemed locked in during the first episode, and Arthur Smith appears to be the perfect hire this season as he helps Russell Wilson reinvigorate his career.
This is just the first episode of a six-week series, and Tomlin appears to be the star of the show.