🎮 Mike Tomlin shows off 12-year build of Minecraft city

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  Anthony GharibSep 30, 2026, 10:32 PM ET

Mike Tomlin is a Super Bowl-winning head coach, is second on the Pittsburgh Steelers' all-time wins list and famously never had a losing record in 19 seasons with the Steelers.

But on Wednesday, Tomlin showed a side of himself rarely seen: that of an architect. On Minecraft, to be exact.

Speaking about his passions for high-rise buildings and urban planning, Tomlin unveiled his Minecraft world in a nearly 20-minute YouTube video. Tomlin has been working on the ongoing project for 12-plus years.

After he watched his kids obsessively play in middle school, Tomlin became intrigued by the creative mode, which allows users to build cities with unlimited resources. The former head coach explains on the video that he likes to build and always had an interest in architecture.

It became a way for Tomlin to spend time with his kids, too. Each of them participated and have buildings across the city.

"Over the course of time, they got just disinterested in the game. They go on to high school and so forth and off to college. Their participation became less and less over the years. My participation probably at times increased," Tomlin says, laughing. "At different times over the course of a 12-month calendar, I would have different levels of fixation on this."

He remembers building the various communities, neighborhoods and buildings with challenges along the way. But he described the process of building his world as "mindless entertainment" and "therapeutic."

"I'm not a big TV watcher," he says. "It allowed me to detach from the realities and the pressures of life."

The video includes Tomlin showing off the various apartments and architecture. He gives a tour of buildings, apologizing for his "lack of stick control" with a controller.

He also breaks down his vision for the city: densely populated buildings around a body of water. He started small before building neighborhoods over 12 years.

The first building Tomlin created is a "boutique hotel" that includes an executive spa and therapy rooms. He described himself as "lighting conscious" when building it, using glass ceilings when appropriate. The hotel includes indoor and outdoor boutiques, an elevator well and a main desk.

Another community within his city features an apartment building with an aquarium on each floor.

He was "view conscious" of the many high rises, making sure that the high-end urban apartment buildings had great sightlines. One of them is right across from baseball and soccer stadiums, which Tomlin teases he'll reveal in another episode.

No detail was too small for Tomlin, either.

"You'll find appropriate number of public restrooms and stuff throughout all my public facilities, men's and women's restrooms," he says. "Not anything over the top in terms of detail ... but it was important that I represented that."

Tomlin's favorite rooftop penthouse includes the sign "Trump Tower" on the front. A caption ran underneath the video clarifying: "Not an endorsement. ... This build is [circa] 2015 ... we didn't think he would win ... TWICE."

Tomlin spawned villagers inside the building to "get a sense of how people moved throughout the space," which includes open living and dining spaces, a "Jack and Jill" bedroom design and a rooftop outdoor entertainment area.

He says that in the next episode he'll return with "something you'll find really interesting," though he didn't share when it would drop. Minecraft users beware.

Tomlin coached the Steelers for 19 seasons from 2007 to 2025, making him the NFL's longest-tenured head coach until he stepped down Jan. 13. He has since joined NBC Sports as an analyst.