Mike Tomlin Will Not Be TV’s Next John Madden

 The Pittsburgh Tribune Review’s Mark Madden, a critic of Tomlin, wrote about his press-conference style in 2024: “Tomlin doesn’t want to be challenged. He wants to sit alone in his Jacuzzi of authority and arrogance. Tomlin’s mere adequacy is camouflaged by him dispensing quotable word salad and empty platitudes to a media he’s got thinly veiled contempt for, yet who nonetheless kneel before Zod. (But Tomlin loves celebrity media. They play ball. That’s your cue, Jay Glazer.)”

Real Opinions

To succeed, Tomlin will have to put the sayings to the side and share real opinions. He has told the media, “I can’t give you all the ingredients to the hot dog, you might not like it.” He’ll have to share the ingredients in a way people can understand on television. That means dumbing down certain concepts and knowing when to fully dive in schematically on others. He’ll have to rip players and coaches – even former Steelers. If he wants to return to coaching, that will be difficult.

Tomlin also needs to be less cool and collected. Madden, in addition to being a football genius, was unhinged during broadcasts in an entertaining way. Can you see Tomlin standing up and yelling “and then boom?” Part of Jon Gruden’s appeal on “Monday Night Football” was you had no Idea what he was going to say. Sometimes you weren’t even sure you were watching the same game as Gruden, and yet — at his peak — he became the highest-paid sports broadcaster.

The transition from coaching to television can be tough. Some coaches don’t work because their technical brilliance doesn’t translate, like Mike Martz. Some guys are boring, like John Fox. And some go right back into coaching, even if they show signs of promise — like Sean Payton after his one-year stint at FOX.

Networks and media critics will expect Tomlin to hit the ground running and deliver a unique product on his first day. He might surprise me and find the right balance between using catchphrases and delivering sustainably interesting commentary. But then what? Tomlin is 53 and could follow in the footsteps of his Steelers predecessor, Bill Cowher, and stay on TV. Or like Tomlin’s former boss, Tony Dungy, who didn’t pick up the phone when teams called.  But in the last few years, the demand for quality coaches (not named Belichick) has exploded.

This offseason wasn’t supposed to be a particularly chaotic coaching carousel and nine jobs came open. That means teams are going to have to settle for a guy they didn’t particularly love and will give the new person a short leash. Or struggling teams that didn’t fire their head coach this go-round, like the Jets with Aaron Glenn, might rethink their strategy with one more bad season.

Tomlin will be the first name mentioned for every vacancy. Not just next offseason but until he gets a decade of TV under his belt. That means he better become a hit on TV quickly. Otherwise, you might have a new set of Tomlin-isms headed to your town sooner than expected.