Going on 19 years in one place, especially in professional sports, is a long, long time. Mike Tomlin is entering Year 19 as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach, and he has plenty of stability and a voice that players continue to respect and admire.
But for former Steelers safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, he wants Tomlin to move on.
Appearing on ESPN’s First Take Thursday morning, Clark stated that he believes Tomlin’s voice has grown stale in Pittsburgh and that he’s taken the Steelers to the highest point they can get unless the organization finds a franchise quarterback.
Clark reiterated a take he’s given multiple times this offseason: that Tomlin needs to leave the Steelers on his own accord.
“I always say this, and people get mad at me. I believe that Mike Tomlin is unfireable. I believe if Mike Tomlin steps away from being the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, that that should be his decision. And I’ve said time and time again, I do believe that should be the decision he makes,” Clark said, according to video via ESPN. “I believe Mike Tomlin should coach in another organization. Mike Tomlin should be a fresh voice somewhere else.
“Because I believe as great as a coach he is, and he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, I believe his voice has run stale there. I believe he’s allowed that team to reach the highest of heights they’re going to reach unless they can get a top-tier quarterback.”
Being in the same situation for 19 years and counting, the same voice and message can grow stale, even if the faces and the names change year after year. That’s a fair take from Clark.
But year after year, Tomlin finds a way to have the Steelers in contention for a playoff spot. Though they haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, they are in a transition period, struggling to find a franchise quarterback in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era.
Tomlin deserves some credit for finding a way to win games consistently in the regular season and getting his team to the playoffs. But he also deserves a ton of criticism for his teams no-showing in the playoffs and getting blown out time and time again in recent years.
And, after yet another one-and-done in the playoffs and staring down another major QB question, fans are fed up with Tomlin, his coaching style, and the recent lack of success. More often than not, there’s the credit of Tomlin being a Hall of Fame head coach, but it being time to move on. After all, all good things come to an end. Maybe it is time for Tomlin to walk away from Pittsburgh and try somewhere else.
“He needs to go have his Andy Reid-Kansas City run,” Clark said. “He should be saying, ‘I want to go.’ And he’s, and he’s never going to do that, ’cause he refuses to run from coaching.”
If Tomlin would want to do that, he’s earned the right. The success he’s had in Pittsburgh will one day put him in the Hall of Fame, even if there’s a negative taste left in recent years due to the Steelers’ lack of playoff success.
But chances of Tomlin leaving for another NFL job are very, very slim. He’s secure in his role, wants to be here, and wants to turn things around. He has become a Pittsburgher through and through. He’ll be the Steelers’ head coach as long as he wants.
That won’t stop Clark, a former player who has a great relationship with Tomlin, stating publicly that he wants Tomlin to leave and go elsewhere, even stating back in March that he wants Tomlin to leave so Steelers fans can learn what terrible truly is.
Clark feels very passionate about it, but it’s not going to happen. Tomlin is the Steelers’ head coach moving forward. He has a few years left on his contract and isn’t going to run from the challenge of coaching in Pittsburgh.
It makes for a great TV segment though, which is maybe what Clark is going for.
