Why Mike Tomlin is a Hall of Fame Coach

[Steeler Nation]

Last weekend, SteelerNation, along with all NFL fans, watched as Bill Cowher, Alan Faneca, Troy Polamalu, Donnie Shell, and Bill Nunn got inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. With so many members of the Pittsburgh Steelers being honored, Canton, Ohio looked more like the North Shore in the middle of the fall. As we watched and listened to past players and coaches talk about their time in Pittsburgh, we naturally thought of who else we can expect to see enter the Hall in the future. We heard Faneca call for Hines Ward’s name to be next, but one key member I thought of was current Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin.

Coach Tomlin is a Hall of Fame coach.

I understand you may be thinking either, “well, duh, of course he is” or, “no way; it’s way too early to determine that”. I am here to call that Tomlin will join Chuck Noll and Cowher as the third Steelers head coach to be enshrined. You may be wondering how I arrived at such a statement. Well, let’s look at some simple, yet telling, numbers.

Win/Loss Percentage​

As of today, Tomlin holds a 145-78-1 record as a head coach. This equates to a .650 win/loss percentage. To compare this to his Hall of Fame counterparts, Noll finished with a 193-148-1 (.566) record and Cowher is 149-90-1 (.623) all-time. On paper in the regular season, Tomlin is surpassing Noll and Cowher in the win/loss columns. With that said however, both Noll and Cowher have better percentages in the postseason; Noll, 16-8 (.667) and Cowher 12-9 (.571) surpass Tomlin’s 8-8 (.500) record. As of late, this has been a hot topic for Steelers fans and Tomlin is working towards clearing that “playoff hurdle” sooner rather than later.

Losing Seasons​

One well-known fact about Tomlin’s success in Pittsburgh is that he’s never had a losing season. Let me say that again for those in the back; coach Tomlin has never had a losing season in Pittsburgh in 14 years. That speaks for itself. Comparing that to his predecessors, Noll had a total of 7 losing seasons in his 23-year career and Cowher had 3 in his 15-year span. Putting that into perspective, both Noll and Cowher never went 14 years without a losing record. For reference, the longest period without a losing season in NFL history is Hall of Famer Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys at 20 seasons.

Super Bowl Wins​

Of course we need to mention the six Pittsburgh Super Bowl championships with eight appearances. The reason NFL teams compete each season is to win a Super Bowl. Winning a world championship is what every football player and coach dreams of. But with that said, let’s explore this a bit differently. We know Noll won four rings in four Super Bowl appearances. Cowher took two Steelers teams to the Super Bowl, winning one. Like Cowher, Tomlin has also taken the Steelers to the Super Bowl twice and won one. Here is where Tomlin is a bit different; it only took him two seasons to win a championship. It took Noll six seasons and Cowher 14. For reference, not one head coach in the Hall of Fame has ever won a Super Bowl in a shorter tenure.

Again, those are a few simple and compelling numbers to prove coach Tomlin’s case in his Hall of Fame induction. I understand it is early to confirm his status and we still have a way to go. Those numbers do not include the fact that Tomlin is the youngest coach to win the Super Bowl, or his countless charitable contributions, or the respect past and current players have for him. They do not include his character and ability to turn boys into men. But as we think back to all the good times we had with Cowher, Faneca, Nunn, Shell, and Polamalu, it is also powerful to look at what we have now. Steelers fans are blessed to not only have seen Hall-of-Fame-caliber coaches in the past, but to have one coaching today. Coach Tomlin will see himself enshrined in Canton, and we should enjoy and value the time we have with our fearless leader on the sideline.



Do you think coach Tomlin is a Hall of Fame coach? Let us know in the comments below!

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[Drink IRON City]

Nice article Ben and everything you say in it is true. Tomlin will get HOF status upon his retirement. I'm hoping he gets two more SBs real soon.

what frustrates us fans (maybe just me) is all the years he wasted. Neglected the OL for 5 years, neglected or missed on defensive draftees, arguably the most talented team on field for the last ten years yet not much to show for it. Losing to sub .500 teams when it mattered, simplw things that proved to be to complicated.

When you add all of your article Ben and then add in this frustration it is easy to see how one may QUESTION his induction. One must seperate the fanatic frustration and solely look at his accomplishments with no if's and's or but's involved.

I think he makes it and to guarantee it Coach Tomlin......... lets bring one home for #7 with #7.



Salute the nation

 

[Omar10213245]

Welp! Sounds like its time for some gum!

 

[SteelBuckeye]

 

[Drink IRON City]

Welp! Sounds like its time for some gum!

You two look like you are waiting for George Kennedy's "LUCY" on Cool Hand Luke. Lucy was George's name for the chick washing the car............




Salute the nation

 

[ZonaBurgh]

I'm going to wait until the bye week before forming my opinion.

 

[BLITZ]

hall of fame QB every year, 1 of the most talented teams in the league year in and year out. 1 championship. yep

 

[Stewey]

 

[Stewey]

.









Oh I suppose.

He better unleash hell this year is all I can say.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

hall of fame QB every year, 1 of the most talented teams in the league year in and year out. 1 championship. yep

Awhile back (like a couple of weeks ago), some folks were clamoring for A-Rod to come and replace Ben next year. A few years ago some folks on this board were saying that Mike McCarthy was a HOF level coach. Those two combined for 1 championship. And, I'd argue they had an easier path to the SB since they didn't have to deal with the Cheatriots.
Now, I'm not saying that Tomlin has a HOF resume yet. Maybe in the eyes of some he never will have one. But, if you noticed last weekend when the talking heads were talking about Troy, Cowher etc., when they mentioned Tomlin it was as pretty much a lock. Consider that some of those media guys are on the selection committee ....

 

[Punxsutawney]

Awhile back (like a couple of weeks ago), some folks were clamoring for A-Rod to come and replace Ben next year. A few years ago some folks on this board were saying that Mike McCarthy was a HOF level coach. Those two combined for 1 championship. And, I'd argue they had an easier path to the SB since they didn't have to deal with the Cheatriots.
Now, I'm not saying that Tomlin has a HOF resume yet. Maybe in the eyes of some he never will have one. But, if you noticed last weekend when the talking heads were talking about Troy, Cowher etc., when they mentioned Tomlin it was as pretty much a lock. Consider that some of those media guys are on the selection committee ....

Tomlin faced the Patriots only once in the playoffs.

He's usually been too busy losing to teams with Tim Tebow and Blake Bottles at QB to get that far.

 

[topseed]

Super Bowl Wins​

Of course we need to mention the six Pittsburgh Super Bowl championships with eight appearances. The reason NFL teams compete each season is to win a Super Bowl. Winning a world championship is what every football player and coach dreams of. But with that said, let’s explore this a bit differently. We know Noll won four rings in four Super Bowl appearances. Cowher took two Steelers teams to the Super Bowl, winning one. Like Cowher, Tomlin has also taken the Steelers to the Super Bowl twice and won one. Here is where Tomlin is a bit different; it only took him two seasons to win a championship. It took Noll six seasons and Cowher 14. For reference, not one head coach in the Hall of Fame has ever won a Super Bowl in a shorter tenure.

I guess you can choose to look at it differently, but to me, Tomlin winning the Super Bowl in his second year (and then failing to do so for the next 12 seasons) doesn't affirm his greatness, it indicates that he: a) inherited a pretty good team, b) happened to be fortunate enough to win it all early in his career, and c) hasn't been able to sustain his early playoff success.

The Steelers were 11-28-3 in the three years before Noll took over. They were 25-23 in the three seasons preceding Cowher. Before Tomlin? 34-14, one year removed from Cowher's Super Bowl victory.

Noll transformed a perennial loser into a contender after three years, then became an eventual 4-time champion. Cowher inherited a mediocre team, made it his own, and had some successes and failures along the way before winning a Super Bowl late in his career. Tomlin was in the right place at the right time, won a SB early, and has put together a 5-7 playoff record in the time since then.

I'm not taking anything away from Tomlin's regular season record, which is excellent, but I'd rather see some sort of progressive (not regressive) postseason results. The fact that he won a Super Bowl at such a young age doesn't really prove all that much, although I'm sure it will indeed be presented as an argument for his HOF consideration.

 

[Ike Kelly]

hall of fame QB every year, 1 of the most talented teams in the league year in and year out. 1 championship. yep

Yeah, Shula sure was fantastic with Marino all those years.

 

[madinsomniac]

Tomlin is a lock for the Hall of fame … He doesn’t have the success we would like him to have , but he has a super bowl win, a second appearance, a sterling regular season record, and some innovations that should be enough to get in…

 

[FSF]

I guess you can choose to look at it differently, but to me, Tomlin winning the Super Bowl in his second year (and then failing to do so for the next 12 seasons) doesn't affirm his greatness, it indicates that he: a) inherited a pretty good team, b) happened to be fortunate enough to win it all early in his career, and c) hasn't been able to sustain his early playoff success.

The Steelers were 11-28-3 in the three years before Noll took over. They were 25-23 in the three seasons preceding Cowher. Before Tomlin? 34-14, one year removed from Cowher's Super Bowl victory.

Noll transformed a perennial loser into a contender after three years, then became an eventual 4-time champion. Cowher inherited a mediocre team, made it his own, and had some successes and failures along the way before winning a Super Bowl late in his career. Tomlin was in the right place at the right time, won a SB early, and has put together a 5-7 playoff record in the time since then.

I'm not taking anything away from Tomlin's regular season record, which is excellent, but I'd rather see some sort of progressive (not regressive) postseason results. The fact that he won a Super Bowl at such a young age doesn't really prove all that much, although I'm sure it will indeed be presented as an argument for his HOF consideration.

Cowher did not inherit a mediocre team. Not according to 2 Hall of Fame coaches said.

In 1992–Noll retired and told his wife it was a Super Bowl team but he wasn’t the man to do it. Cowher said the team had no significant weaknesses and the result was an 11-5 team that was the #1 seed in AFC.

 

[Tibs]

In my book, it comes down to this. Mike Tomlin exemplifies *everything* that's worthy about this historic franchise, equal to the great Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. The hard work, the perseverance, the attention to detail, the focus on preparation, the decency, moral fortitude & commitment to winning. He is the embodiment of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He is on equal footing with, and represents the same level of excellence as the coaches who came before him. I too hope he'll be able to lift another Lombardi or two before he hangs them up and is enshrined in the HOF. We've been incredibly fortunate to have this level of consistency and excellence, unmatched anywhere in professional sports.

I love Coach Tomlin, as much as I loved Cowher & Noll. They're all incredibly talented, solid, decent men.

Couldn't be any prouder of these three legendary coaches, or this team & this franchise.

 

[Omar10213245]

In my book, it comes down to this. Mike Tomlin exemplifies *everything* that's worthy about this historic franchise, equally to the great Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. The hard work, the perseverance, the attention to detail, the focus on preparation, the decency, moral fortitude & commitment to winning. He is the embodiment of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He is on equal footing with, and represents the same level of excellence as the coaches who came before him. I too hope he'll be able to lift another Lombardi or two before he hangs them up and is enshrined in the HOF. We've been incredibly fortunate to have this level of consistency and excellence, unmatched anywhere in professional sports.

I love Coach Tomlin, as much as I loved Cowher & Noll. They're all incredibly talented, solid, decent men.

Couldn't be any prouder of these three legendary coaches, or this team & franchise.

Such beautiful prose about our wonderful coach...I'm overjoyed

 

[BLITZ]

He will get in for one reason . Longevity. With the quality of teams he had, he should have won more playoff games, if not championships.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

He will get in for one reason . Longevity. With the quality of teams he had, he should have won more playoff games, if not championships.

Yep. Just like his predecessor. Who, while making it to more AFCCGs, lost most of them.
Thing is, if you're going to set the bar high (and I think it should be), Cowher shouldn't have cleared it. His television work helped him get in. And, being a hypocrite as to the bar being high, I'm OK with that. Because he was the coach of the Steelers.
As for Tomlin, I think it's fair to see what he does with this back end of his career before we put him in or exclude him from, the HOF. He's on a nice track for it though.

 

[Ike Kelly]

He will get in for one reason . Longevity. With the quality of teams he had, he should have won more playoff games, if not championships.

Again….just like Shula. After 1972, how many championships were obtained? He had Marino for how long, 12 years?

 

[BLITZ]

Again….just like Shula. After 1972, how many championships were obtained? He had Marino for how long, 12 years?

Ok

 

[SteelerSask2]

I'm not going to argue his HOF credentials. Numbers are numbers and that is outlined. Cowher was a HOF coach and had is day and was replaced. Same with Noll. I just simply believe they will not win another SB with Tomlin. So if you are happy with what they have got for the last decade I guess it is what it is. I am not.
To me the funniest thing about Tomlin is his main platitude. Next man up. If the Steelers Oline is even decent they are a playoff team. BUT. Guys will get hurt as they always do and that will sink the ship. Why? Cause Tomlin doesn't fix **** by coaching up. He fixes **** by adding talent.

 

[Stewey]

Has there ever been 3 consecutive head coaches inducted into the HOF?

Add another feather in the cap of the most successful and respected franchises in the history of the NFL.

Never having a losing season is testimony to the argument that he didn't go far enough with the talent he had been given.

 

[FatsHolmes]

A couple of items that might help him.

1) He only won one Super Bowl, but is still the youngest coach to ever win one.
2) He has been on the NFL competition committee for years. By doing so, he can be seen as adding to the game at large.

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

His wise decision on removing ping pong will likely be the determining factor that is the driving force behind his enshrinement.