Entering the weekend, Mike Tomlin was the NFL’s longest tenured coach, having been on the sidelines in Pittsburgh since 2007. By Tuesday afternoon, that had changed: Tomlin announced his decision to step down as Steelers head coach after a disappointing end to the 2025 season, in which his team suffered a 30-6 loss to the Texans in the Wild Card round on Monday night.
Tomlin leaves behind quite a legacy, no matter what you think of his recent work. Yes, it's been a full decade since his last playoff win, and yes, his approach to offense felt increasingly anachronistic. But Tomlin never had a losing season in his 19 years in charge of the Steelers, posting a 193-114-2 regular-season record to go along with his Super Bowl ring. That's a hell of a feat.
But his absence won't just be felt in Pittsburgh. With Tomlin no longer around, Andy Reid now holds the top spot as the NFL's longest-tenured active head coach, having been with the Kansas City Chiefs since 2013.
Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh were previously the longest-tenured head coaches
The AFC North has almost completely decimated its coaching ranks with Tomlin stepping down. What was once the division with the two longest-tenured coaches in Tomlin and John Harbaugh now faces an offseason of change, as both coaches are moving on. Harbaugh had spent 18 years with the Ravens and, like Tomlin in Pittsburgh, won a Super Bowl during his time in Baltimore.
The uniqueness of Tomlin stepping down doesn’t immediately mean he’s hopping back into the coaching carousel. He could take some well-deserved time off, or retire altogether. Harbaugh, on the other hand, has been considered one of the most attractive coaching candidates this cycle. We’ll see what happens with both he and Tomlin, but it will be new eras for both of them, which is odd to think about in itself.
The longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL now
COACH | TEAM | BEEN WITH TEAM SINCE | RECORD |
|---|---|---|---|
1. Andy Reid | Kansas City Chiefs | 2013 | 149-64 |
2. Sean McDermott | Buffalo Bills | 2017 | 98-50 |
3. Sean McVay | Los Angeles Rams | 2017 | 92-57 |
4. Kyle Shanahan | San Francisco 49ers | 2017 | 82-67 |
5. Zac Taylor | Cincinnati Bengals | 2019 | 52-63-1 |
6. Matt LaFleur | Green Bay Packers | 2019 | 76-40-1 |
7. Dan Campbell | Detroit Lions | 2021 | 48-36-1 |
8. Nick Sirianni | Philadelphia Eagles | 2021 | 59-26 |
9. Kevin O'Connell | Minnesota Vikings | 2022 | 43-25 |
10. Todd Bowles | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2022 | 35-33 |
We know Reid is the now the longest-tenured head coach in the league, having been in Kansas City for 12 seasons. After him, though, no other coach has been with their respective team for more than nine seasons: Sean McDermott, Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan were all part of the 2017 hiring cycle. After that, Zac Taylor was hired in 2019.
The shortest tenures in the top 10 would be Kevin O’Connell and Todd Bowles, who have been with Minnesota and Tampa Bay, respectively, since 2022. The NFL is increasingly becoming a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, and both Harbaugh and Tomlin moving on hammers home that keeping coaches around for the long haul might be a thing of the past.
Are decades-long head coaching tenures a thing of the past in the NFL?
The days of coaches having long tenures like Tomlin and Harbaugh are probably over. Most franchises simply don’t have the patience they used to. Organizations want instant gratification and quick results rather than building things over time. McDermott, McVay and Shanahan are all fortunate enough to have reached the nine-year mark, but.
Shanahan’s job security has been called into question numerous times with the San Francisco 49ers, yet he’s been to two Super Bowls in nine years. Teams like the Cleveland Browns are constantly looking for the next person to build around rather than seeing coaches all the way through.
If teams were patient, then yes, maybe we’d see more coaches with decades-long tenures. But even making the playoffs isn’t good enough anymore; you have to win early and win often, otherwise front offices are already looking for your replacement. Reid was one of the lucky few to coach multiple teams for more than 10 years. We’ll probably never see that again.