Two pittsburgh steelers The Giants have joined the voices calling for the franchise to move on from Mike Tomlin, with Ben Roethlisberger even suggesting the longtime coach is a good fit for the position. penn state Work.
Roethlisberger and former teammate James Harrison both weighed in on Tomlin’s future amid growing speculation that the struggling Steelers will part ways with the NFL’s longest-tenured coach after this season.
“Maybe it’s time to come clean. Maybe it’s time,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday on his “Footballin’ with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. “I like Coach Tomlin. I have a lot of respect for Coach Tomlin, but maybe this is what’s best for him.
“Maybe a fresh start is best for him. Whether he’s in the pros, maybe he becomes the head coach of Penn State. You know what he’ll do at Penn State? He’ll probably win a national championship, because he’s a great recruiter.”
Penn State recently finished a disappointing 6–6 season and is still searching for a replacement for head coach James Franklin, who was fired in October. The Nittany Lions’ most recent target, Kalani Sitake, announced on Tuesday that he Will stay at BYUProlonging Penn State’s coaching search.
The Steelers (6-6) have also struggled this season after winning four of their first five games despair began to boil during home damage on sunday buffalo billWhen fans booed and chanted “Fire Tomlin!”
Harrison, who played under Tomlin for 10 seasons in Pittsburgh, said Monday that “something has to be done” and added that he doesn’t consider Tomlin a “great coach.”
“I’ve never been a guy who thought Coach Tomlin was a great coach,” Harrison said on his “Deebo & Joe” podcast. “I thought he was good [coach],,,A good coach helps you play to your potential, And right now, the players we have seen playing in that team are not playing up to their potential, A great coach helps you play to your potential,”
Harrison enjoyed his best NFL seasons under Tomlin, earning five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances from 2007 to 2011 and winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. The two-time All-Pro linebacker said that although the Steelers historically do not change coaches, change is needed in Pittsburgh.
“Something has to be done and I know the Steelers historically don’t move on from coaches,” he said. “But I think now is the time to make history.”
Roethlisberger stressed that the Steelers should not fire Tomlin, suggesting that the two sides reach an “agreement” to end his time in Pittsburgh.
“This is what you don’t do: You don’t fire a guy like Coach Tomlin,” the former star quarterback said. “He’s a Hall of Fame head coach, he’s respected. What you do is you come to an understanding and an agreement, and it’s like, ‘Hey, listen, I think this is probably what’s best for both of us.’
“You say, ‘Hey, coach, listen, it’s probably best for all parties involved, let’s start again.’ It happened with Chuck Noll, it happened with Coach Cowher.”
Tomlin, 53, has 189 regular-season wins during his 19 years with Pittsburgh – 11th-most in NFL history – and his .625 career winning percentage is the best in franchise history. But the Steelers have not won the AFC North since 2020 and have not won a playoff game since January 2017.
“Coach Tomlin has been here a long time,” Roethlisberger said. “You’ll give him a statue no matter what you have to do, because he deserves it, he’s earned it. But now it’s time to find that next guy. Who’s the next guy that can be here for the next 20 years?”
