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In 2007, at the age of thirty-four, Mike Tomlin was hired as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Replacing Hall of Famer Bill Cowher—and two years removed from the team’s Super Bowl XL victory—there was immense pressure on the first-year head coach, who many fans and those in the media were largely unfamiliar with. After five seasons as an assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a single season as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, the hiring came as a surprise to many.

From his first day at the helm, numerous questions began to be asked: Was this young coach able to lead a veteran team that still had championship hopes? Could the newly hired, soft-spoken coach be able to fill the shoes of the great Cowher, known for being brash and outspoken? Was his hiring based solely on the “Rooney Rule”—named after Steelers owner Dan Rooney—which states that every team must interview at least one minority candidate for their open head coaching position?

Not only did Tomlin rise above the questions and criticism about his credentials he continued the franchise’s reputation of excellence. The youngest coach to win a Super Bowl in only his second season at the helm, Tomlin has yet to have a losing record in sixteen seasons with the team. He is also the second-most tenured head coach in the league, only behind Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.

The question remains, who IS Mike Tomlin? John Harris, a Veteran journalist who covered Tomlin’s hiring for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review works to pull back the curtain on the mystique behind this “coaching unicorn.”

John Harris has captured his grit, his emotional intelligence, his toughness and the ‘why and how’ of Tomlin’s genius.”

—Roland Lazenby, New York Times bestselling author of Michael Jordan, The Life

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TOMLIN: THE SOUL OF A FOOTBALL COACH
(Updated and Revised Edition)

By John Harris

FOREWORD BY TONY DUNGY

Publication Date: October 28, 2025
Publisher: Sports Publishing
ISBN-10: 168358516X
ISBN-13: 978-1683585169 | $18.00 US | 504 Pages
Categories: Football/Football Biographies/Football