Tomlin: Focus on broadcasting, not 'one iota of thought' yet to coaching return

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  Brooke PryorNov 11, 2026, 01:09 PM ET

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  Brooke Pryor is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019. She previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and the University of Oklahoma for The Oklahoman.

PITTSBURGH -- Though Mike Tomlin's name is likely to be a popular one in the upcoming NFL head coach hiring cycle, the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach-turned-broadcaster said Wednesday he hasn't given "one iota of thought" about a potential return to the sideline.

"Haven't given one iota of thought about coaching," Tomlin said on a conference call with NBC Sports. "I'm sure that some of that's going to come up in a not-too-distant future, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Really hadn't thought a lot about it, really excited about my new role and working to get better each and every week."

Following his departure from Pittsburgh earlier this year, Tomlin, who never had a losing season in 19 seasons at the helm of the Steelers, joined NBC Sports as a studio analyst on its "Football Night in America" show.

"It's awesome to be as close to the game as I am and be able to observe the game from a global perspective," Tomlin said. "I think when you're coaching, you block out a lot of the peripheral things during the NFL season. It's been fun to really enjoy observing it, absorbing it from a football lover's perspective. ... It's also fun to be challenged. I'm a novice, obviously, and so I've just been hyper-focused on getting better each and every week in terms of delivering information and delivering it in an educational and entertaining way."

This week, he'll be on location in Cincinnati as his former team takes on the Bengals for the division lead in a big-time Sunday night game. It marks the first time he has worked on a game featuring the Steelers.

"I look forward to it because of the relationships, but you know me, I'm capable of compartmentalizing, and getting hyper-focused on the job," Tomlin said. "But it certainly will be fun to see some guys I got relationships with and there'll certainly be a lot of those. But they have a job to do, I have a job to do, and so I'm sure everyone's going to be focused on the task at hand."