Former NFL GM names Steelers coach Mike Tomlin as dark horse for LSU or USC job

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is being talked about as a potential candidate for the head coaching vacancies at USC and LSU.

The Steelers are likely to begin a new era at quarterback next season with Ben Roethlisberger reaching the end of the road. Maybe they’ll have to replace their head coach as well?

That’s a scenario proposed by former Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley, who made the case for Mike Tomlin leaving the Steelers for the college game.

With LSU and USC representing top-tier head coaching opportunities in college, Whaley argued those would be good fits for the head coach.

Does Mike Tomlin make sense as a head coach candidate for LSU and USC?

No doubt the Tigers and Trojans would perk up at the chance to hire a Super Bowl-winning head coach. Tomlin got his start coaching in college too. That hire would be met with cheers from either fanbase.

The prospect may be interesting, but it is extremely unlikely. Tomlin may not relish the idea of starting fresh with a new quarterback, but he’s been far too successful in the NFL to leave now on his own, especially at two college programs in varied states of turmoil of their own. That decision would amount to conceding he can’t make it in the pros without Roethlisberger. It’s just not a concession an NFL head coach is likely to make.

Coaches have left the NFL for college before, but most of the time it’s because they got fired. The ones who packed up themselves, like Nick Saban, were already well established at the college level beforehand.

It would be unprecedented for someone like Tomlin to make that move. We’ll believe it when we see it.

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