In the spring of 2014, while covering the Steelers, I conversationally asked Mike Tomlin about James Franklin, whom he has known for years. The latter had yet to coach a game at Penn State and came across as caffeine with glasses and a shiny dome.
It is not an act, Tomlin told me about Franklin.
It is real.
Fast forward to December 2024. I ran into former Steelers GM Kevin Colbert while attending a Steelers Hall of Honor dinner. I asked him if he had been watching HBO’s “Hard Knocks.” The Steelers were one of four AFC North teams featured on the long-running series; it took Tomlin all of one episode to own “Hard Knocks.” His charisma and ability to motivate players made Tomlin a camera magnet.
What people are seeing on “Hard Knocks,” Colbert told me, is what he had seen every day while working with Tomlin for more than 15 years.
It is real.
You know what else is real about Tomlin and Franklin? Each is a success by almost every measure.
Tomlin’s 183 wins in 18 seasons are 10 fewer than Chuck Noll, who coached the Steelers for 23 seasons. Tomlin has won a Super Bowl and (cue Steelers fans groaning or screaming) never had a losing season. He will one day join Noll (Bill Cowher) in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Frankin, meanwhile, has won at least 10 games in six of his 11 seasons in Happy Valley. He has had one losing season. And that may have been his best coaching job to date.
Seriously.
Penn State lost its first five games in the COVID-crazy 2020 season before winning its final four. And what might have been had generational LB/DE Micah Parsons not sat out the season and the Nits not served up their Week 1 game to Michael Penix Jr. and Indiana on a blue-and-white platter.
Despite Murphy’s Law prevailing into November, Franklin never lost his players. He has never lost a team as a head coach.
Same with Tomlin.
The truth is, Tomlin and Franklin are very good to exceptional at 90 percent of their jobs. Unfortunately for each, it is the 10 percent that consistently puts them in fans’ crosshairs. Each is widely regarded as a master motivator rather than a master strategist or even an above-average Xs and Os coach.
Have Penn State fans ever gone into a big game thinking James Franklin will outcoach his counterpart? A lot of Steelers fans feel the same way about Tomlin. And they are at wit’s end with a playoff losing streak that dates back to the 2016 season.
That is eternity for a franchise that has won six Super Bowls. The Steelers were 10-3 last December before collapsing under the weight of a brutal end-of-the-season schedule and their own shortcomings.
Franklin won the first two playoff games in Penn State history but will be more remembered for what happened in the third. Penn State lost, despite outplaying Notre Dame. That happens too often when the Nittany Lions are on a big stage.
And that reality is that Franklin is defined by what he hasn’t done as much as by what he has done.
Ditto for Tomlin.
Some Steelers fans still claim he won the 2008 Super Bowl with Bill Cowher’s players. This is total hogwash, but perception and reality are first cousins—maybe closer.
For Tomlin to truly be embraced by Steelers fans, he has to win another Super Bowl. For Franklin, the 10-win seasons and consistency won’t matter unless he wins a national championship.
Each is set up to succeed — or fail — this season. Penn State is loaded and will open the season No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. Yet many Nittany Lions trust Franklin less than QB Drew Allar. And that is saying something.
The Steelers are also loaded, at least on defense, according to no less than Tomlin. Credit to them for doing everything they can to get off the 10-7/playoff beatdown hamster wheel. And if they finally break through this season, beyond winning just a playoff game?
It will be because Aaron Rodgers gulped from the fountain of youth.
Obviously.
