Monday, January 27, 2025, 12:16PM |  26°
MENU
Advertisement
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talks with players as they stretch during minicamp on the South Side in June.
1
MORE

Steelers sign Tomlin to two-year contract extension through 2018

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Steelers sign Tomlin to two-year contract extension through 2018

Mike Tomlin, already one of the highest-paid head coaches in the NFL, will remain that way after he signed a two-year contract extension with the Steelers.

While coaches’ contracts are hard to come by – and Steelers’ coaches traditionally difficult to peg – Forbes Magazine reported Tomlin as the sixth-highest-paid coach in the NFL in 2012 with a salary of $5.75 million. Three years later, that salary has to be close to $7 million and a two-year extension through the 2018 season should pay him $8 million or more annually.

Few can deny he’s earned his pay. In eight seasons, he has compiled an 82-46 record (.641) in the regular season and has coached the Steelers into two Super Bowls, winning in the 2008 season and losing in the 2010 season. The team has won four division titles and made playoff appearances in five of their eight seasons under Tomlin.

Advertisement

“Mike has proven he is one of the top head coaches in the National Football League, and we are confident he will continue to lead the team in our pursuit of another Super Bowl championship,’’ said Steelers president Art Rooney II in a press release.

Former Steelers coach Chuck Noll observes his players during training camp in 1975.
Max Cohen
Steelers faithful: 50 years at Saint Vincent

As with their quarterbacks, the Steelers normally sign their coach to an extension when he has two years left on his current contract. That was broken in 2006 when they could not come to terms with Bill Cowher, who resigned after that season with one year left on his contract with the Steelers.

“I very much appreciate this contract extension, but my sole focus has been and will continue to be meeting the challenges that lie ahead for the 2015 season,” Tomlin said in the press release. “These past nine years in Pittsburgh have been a wonderful experience for my family, and I look forward to pursuing what is the Steelers’ goal every year – bringing another Super Bowl championship to the City of Pittsburgh.”

At 43, Tomlin is one of the youngest coaches in the NFL despite his nine years on the job. He was the youngest coach ever to win a Super Bowl at age 36.

Advertisement

Counting this season, the Steelers have had only three head coaches in the past 47 seasons. Chuck Noll retired after 23 seasons in 1991. Cowher coached 15 and this will be Tomlin’s ninth.

His teams have not experienced a losing season, but went 8-8 in consecutive years before rebounding to 11-5 and the AFC North Division championship last season. The Steelers lost to Baltimore at Heinz Field in their playoff game.

He took over team that finished 8-8 in 2006 and they won the AFC North Division with a 10-6 record, but lost their playoff opener to Jacksonville at home. The next season, they went 12-4 and beat Arizona 27-23 in one of the great Super Bowl finishes to bring the Steelers their sixth Lombardi Trophy, the most of any team.

As with Noll and Cowher, the Steeler plucked the relatively unknown Tomlin from a defensive staff after one year as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.

Steelers cornerback Cortez Allen
Ed Bouchette
Jarvis Jones, Ryan Shazier, Cortez Allen, Shamarko Thomas key to Steelers improvement on defense

Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter at EdBouchette.

First Published: July 23, 2015, 2:09 p.m.

RELATED
Kevin Colbert
Ed Bouchette
Steelers sign general manager Colbert through 2018
Le'Veon Bell is becoming perhaps the best running back in the NFL, but does he have an adequate replacement early in the season?
Ed Bouchette
Five things to look for at Steelers training camp
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin watching training camp drills in Latrobe last July.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A fan's guide to 2015 Steelers training camp
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, center, calls timeout during the second half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. The Steelers won 16-10.
1
sports
Jason Mackey: Steelers' offseason has been tough to predict and understand
President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.
2
news
Trump's executive order on gender draws criticism from Pittsburgh advocates
Pedestrians walk past the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, where the governor's office is located. Republicans are planning their 2026 bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro..
3
news
Pa. Republicans planning 'unified and strategic' approach to unseating Josh Shapiro in 2026
Firefighters responded to a house fire in Upper St. Clair on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. One person was killed, and four were injured, including two police officers.
4
local
A wave of deadly Pittsburgh-area house fires puts a spotlight on safety
The entrance into a waste coal pile, owned by Champion Processing, in Washington County on Jan. 22, 2025. A massive solar and battery project that would have covered up the pile and resulted in renewable energy has been abandoned.
5
business
Solar Eclipsed: The sun has set on Beech Hollow solar, a project planned for the largest coal refuse pile in Washington County
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin talks with players as they stretch during minicamp on the South Side in June.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story