Mike Tomlin may never return to coaching in NFL

Mike Tomlin does not have any plans to coach in 2026 after stepping away from the Pittsburgh Steelers. One former player who knows him well thinks he might never return to the sidelines.

Ronde Barber, a close friend of Tomlin’s, questioned whether Tomlin will ever coach again after stepping down this week. According to Barber, Tomlin privately said last year that he had already decided 2025 would be his last year, and Barber got the impression that Tomlin is just not interested in coaching again.

“There’s a lot of stories out there about Mike coming up and wanting to take one year off and go coach (again),” Barber said, via Tim Benz of Trib Live. “I’m gonna tell you right now, I think he’s done. I think he wants to be done. Last year, I was in Long Island with him, and he told me then. He said, ‘I think this is my last year.’ And didn’t say anything to anyone else for the entirety of the year.”

Barber played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Tomlin received his first coaching job as an assistant there in 2001. The two are close, and Tomlin presented Barber with the gold jacket when Barber was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.

Much has been made about Tomlin potentially going into television. That could certainly prove to be a lucrative multi-year career if the former Steelers coach wants it to be. If Tomlin proves good at it, it could make him even more money than coaching has, and likely with a lot less stress involved.

Tomlin is only 53, and logically, he has plenty of time left to return to the NFL. It seems like a foregone conclusion that he will take at least one year off, but it sounds like those who know him well would not be at all surprised if he winds up deciding not to return to a sideline anytime soon.