According to a new report, NBC expects to hire Mike Tomlin, the former coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, to be the centerpiece of its football coverage. It will be the first NFL season in 20 years that Tomlin won’t be walking the sidelines as a head coach.
The 54-year-old Tomlin resigned as head coach in January after 19 seasons with the Steelers. His resignation led to numerous sports TV executives eagerly seeking to hire him as an analyst.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, sources say Mike Tomlin will be a top studio analyst on NBC’s Sunday night pregame show, Football Night in America. Tomlin will join host Maria Taylor and former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett on the show. Devin McCourty will also likely return to the show, but he still needs to sign a new contract.
NBC let Tony Dungy go from Football Night in America after last season – his 17th with the show. According to Marchand, the roles of Chris Simms, Jac Collinsworth, and Rodney Harrison on Football Night in America are also under scrutiny. NBC Sports reportedly declined to comment on their statuses.
“Next season, NBC could hit the road full-time. In recent years, the main crew, featuring Taylor, were mostly in NBC’s Stamford, Conn., studios, while Collinsworth, Dungy and Harrison had been on site at the games,” Marchand reported. “NBC has looked into forgoing the hybrid approach with fewer personalities involved.”
During his time coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin never finished with a losing record, the longest streak in NFL history. He compiled a regular-season record of 193-114 with the Steelers and won Super Bowl XLIII. At the time of his resignation, he was the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball.