Pat McAfee stunned as Ben Roethlisberger floats Mike Tomlin as new Penn State head coach

Cue the collective freeze-frame across Nittany Nation.

This wasn't some anonymous agent floating a nonsensical idea. This wasn't message-board fiction or social media speculation. This was a future Hall of Famer — a guy who knows Tomlin, who played under him for years — putting Penn State on the table like it was a legitimate destination.

McAfee: This shows how people are viewing Penn State — and that part stings

McAfee didn't shy away from the uncomfortable truth staring everyone in the face.

"There were people saying, 'Why would Tomlin ever go to Penn State?'" McAfee said. "And it sucks that that's how people are viewing Penn State right now."

It was a rare unfiltered moment — McAfee essentially holding up a mirror to what this coaching search has exposed to the rest of college football: the job's perception isn't living up to what the fan base believes it should be. Eight coaches used Penn State's interest as leverage to secure fat raises elsewhere. Kalani Sitake's flirtation ended with a Provo extension. Jeff Brohm passed. Even Group of Five targets have been crossed off the list.

Penn State needs a hire that rewrites the story with one announcement. Ben Roethlisberger — whether he meant to or not — might've just handed them the only name with that kind of gravitational pull.

Would Tomlin actually take it?

This part divided the desk.

On one hand: "If Mike Tomlin wants to be in Pittsburgh, he'll be in Pittsburgh," McAfee said. "He's earned that."

On the other: The Steelers sit at 6–6. Fan frustration is boiling over. The playoff drought just hit year eight. And now, for the first time, multiple Steelers legends — Roethlisberger and James Harrison — are publicly calling for change.

"Maybe he does move on… and maybe he does go to Penn State, who doesn't have a coach," McAfee said, letting the possibility linger in dead air.

Guest commentator AQ Shipley pushed it even further.

"It feels like Penn State's at a big L right now — but they can turn it all around with one hire and one signing and one win next year."

Tomlin would check every single box.

The bottom line: Penn State needed a spark — and it just got one

This search has humbled Penn State's administration, exposed how the job is perceived, and revealed just how fragile momentum can be — but on a random Tuesday in December, a Hall of Fame quarterback and the loudest show in sports media accidentally handed Penn State something it desperately needed: a conversation-starter with real national force. Roethlisberger planted it, Harrison added fuel, and McAfee launched it into orbit. The odds of Tomlin leaving the Steelers remain slim, but the message is undeniable — Penn State finally has a headline coach attached to its search who isn't using the program for a raise, and for the first time in weeks, this feels less like a slow spiral and more like a possibility the sport will actually talk about. Whether Tomlin entertains it is a different story, but the door is cracked open, and in State College, that's more than they had yesterday.

This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Dec 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.