Joey Porter Sr. played for the Steelers for eight years, and later coached for five more under HC Mike Tomlin. Now that he is just a Steelers fan and dad to Joey Porter Jr., he is resisting temptation. Offered the opportunity to stand on the sidelines for one game, he recalled turning it down for one particular reason.
“The funny thing about it was, I’m in the stands, because I told [Mike Tomlin], Mike is good, ‘Man, you want to come?’ I’m like, Nah, man, until they give me a suite, I’ve got to sit in the stands,” Porter recalled on the Not Just Football podcast.
“I ain’t trying to use my Steeler power of being on the sideline, because it’s giving mixed emotions. I know how much I really do want to coach,” Porter admitted. “I’m not trying to sit down here to look like I’m trying to ask for my job back, knowing I would take it back. But you don’t want to come off like that, and I want him to be a man and do his thing.”
The particular game he was discussing was Week 5 of the 2023 season. That was his son Joey Porter Jr.’s first game in a larger role in the Steelers’ defense. Porter recorded his first interception, jumping in front of Odell Beckham Jr. in the end zone.
While he wasn’t on the sidelines, Joey Porter Sr. was waiting for the ball in the stands. He said he sat in the stands at Penn State and didn’t want it to be any different with the Steelers. But at 48 years old, it sure sounds like he still has the coaching bug.
That’s hardly surprising, considering Mike Tomlin is 53, so age isn’t really the issue. Porter Sr. is focusing on being a dad first, though, along with his work with the Jasmine Nyree Day Center, named after his daughter, catering to children with special needs.
Would he ever take another coaching job again, though? And would he coach anywhere but with the Steelers? He said he would take his job back, but that’s one particular job, in one particular town. Pittsburgh and the Steelers organization mean a lot to Porter and his family, perhaps now more than ever.
In the same interview, Joey Porter Jr. talked about his wishes for his son. The first thing he mentioned was his hope that he would “stay here,” with the Steelers and win championships. He may have left as a player, but like so many others before him, he found his way back.
Porter and Tomlin both raised sons together in the area schools—including Joey Porter Jr., of course. He first earned a defensive assistant post with Colorado State, where he worked with Shaquille Barrett. The following year, in 2014, Tomlin hired him to join the Steelers’ staff.
After Tomlin promoted Keith Butler to defensive coordinator, Porter took over the outside linebackers coach job. He held that position for four years, overseeing the early days of T.J. Watt’s career. But the Steelers let him go after the 2018 season. While he served on Hines Ward’s coaching staff in the XFL in 2023, it wasn’t quite the same.
