Steelers' Mike Tomlin Has Another Colossal Failure Developing NFL-Caliber Coaching Candidates

The Pittsburgh Steelers are having an overall impressive season at 8-2, despite having a pair of rejects at quarterback. While there is a never-ending debate on how good Mike Tomlin is as a head coach, the fact that he is winning games with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields has helped his case a lot. Even with all the accomplishments that Tomlin has racked up in Pittsburgh, there is still one thing that he has never done, and that negative trend seems to continue through the 2024 season and into the 2025 coaching cycle. 

NFL insider Tom Pelissero brought up all the different candidates to become head coaches during the 2025 season. With two head coaches already being axed in the middle of the season and more to come on Black Monday, there will be quite a few people getting their chance to lead a whole team, at least for a season.

Right off the bat, two Steelers coaches were listed. The first one is Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator. He was just listed as a guy who "could be back in the mix" during the coaching cycle. He has done a great job as the Steelers' play-caller so far, but is it truly enough to overlook what he did with the Atlanta Falcons?

Smith was seen as a wannabe-genius that preferred to give the ball to the backups as opposed to the star players. After three stagnant years, he was fired, and the Steelers hired him in January of 2024. He may be more comfortable as a coordinator than a head coach, and teams likely won't want to hire him just yet. 

The other name that was brought up was Teryl Austin, but he is a veteran coordinator that has yet to ever be hired as a head coach. He is in the same category as Danny Smith: proficient at what he does, but not exciting enough to get the head coaching job. With all the other names out there, he will likely get overlooked again.

After that, Pelissero lists 22 young coaches that could be head coaches in 2025. None of them are currently on Tomlin's staff. Most of them are coordinators on NFL teams, as the league has shifted away from hiring college head coaches with no experience in the big leagues. This is a very common trend for Tomlin.

To make matters worse, Pelissero also lists 97 candidates to become head coaches further into the future. The Steelers don't have a single coach on that list either. Those coaches consist of position coaches that have done well and will likely earn themselves a spot as a coordinator soon, and then will eventually get the head coaching gig as time goes on. 

Guys like Tom Arth and Grady Brown have seemed like guys that would at least get a coordinator job somewhere, but even the experts don't see them as quality head coach material. With that said, it seems like Tomlin's coaching tree will remain completely empty for the foreseeable future.

Steelers' Lone Coaching Candidate Was Disowned By The Team

Only one coach has ever left Tomlin's system and become a head coach: Bruce Arians. Even then, it was not a smooth transition from offensive coordinator to leader of another team like it normally is. While reports said that he retired from coaching, that seemed to be a facade due to the Steelers not liking the idea of firing a coach. 

Arians would become the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts in 2012, so he falls under Chuck Pagano's tree. However, Pagano had to step aside as he battled cancer, so Arians became the interim head coach for most of the season. After leading them to the playoffs, he was hired as the full-time leader of the Arizona Cardinals. 

There are a few coaches from Tomlin's system that have coached elsewhere, but none are seen as guys that he developed. Todd Haley was a former head coach that ran the Steelers' offense after Arians was fired. He later became the play-caller for the Cleveland Browns, but was fired in the middle of his first season.

Brian Flores spent one year in Pittsburgh before getting the defensive coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings. While it was a good hire, he only brought in because the rest of the league was allegedly black balling him. Flores is more so associated with Bill Belichick than Tomlin.

Lastly, the Steelers would be better off if they disassociated themselves from Adrian Klemm. He was a horrible coach in Pittsburgh, and he is still failing with the New England Patriots. If Klemm is the shining member of Tomlin's coaching tree, then he has failed as a guy that can develop young coaches. 

What do you think about Tomlin's lack of a coaching tree? Let us know in the comments.

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