The Pittsburgh Steelers are 7-5 heading into Week 14, clinging on to their playoff hopes. Coached by Mike Tomlin, the Steelers have never had a losing season under his watch.
Considering he’s been coaching since the ’90s, Tomlin has been around a while. How long has he been with Pittsburgh?
How Long Has Mike Tomlin Coached the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Tomlin began his coaching career back in 1995 when he was the wide receivers coach at Virginia Military Institute. He’d get his first NFL gig in 2001 when he joined Tony Dungy and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He became the defensive backs coach, learning the Tampa 2-style defense he has employed in his career since.
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He stayed the defensive backs coach until 2005, even after Jon Gruden took over as head coach. Those defenses led the NFL in total defense twice, in 2002 and 2005, and never finished worse than sixth overall.
He was a part of the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl XXXVII win. In that game, his defensive backs recorded five interceptions — three for touchdowns.
Following his time with Tampa Bay, he would spend one season as the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings in 2006. The Vikings defense finished with the NFL’s eighth-best overall defense. It was, however, the top-ranked defense against the run but the worst against the pass.
The Steelers hired Tomlin as their 16th head coach in franchise history on January 27, 2007. He replaced Bill Cowher, who retired after 15 seasons with the team. The Steelers had just won the Super Bowl in 2005.
Tomlin became the 10th African-American head coach in NFL history and the first for the Steelers. He has since coached the Steelers for 16 seasons. In his first season, he led the Steelers to an AFC North Division title and a 10-6 record.
In his head coaching career, he has a 170-97-2 record in the regular season and an 8-9 record in the postseason. In just his second season, he led the Steelers to Super Bowl XLIII, where they defeated the Arizona Cardinals. At the time, Tomlin was the youngest coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl.
Although the Steelers have not made it back to the Super Bowl since their win in 2008, they have made consistent appearances. They have appeared in the Playoffs ten times under Tomlin’s watch.
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