Mike Tomlin's Fatal Flaw With The Steelers Plagued Him For Nearly His Entire Tenure

The Pittsburgh Steelers have officially started their search for a new head coach for the first time since 2007, following the departure of Mike Tomlin. It still feels strange to even say that out loud, considering how long he stood on the sideline. Tomlin had plenty of high points in Pittsburgh, from winning Super Bowl XLIII in 2008 to making another Super Bowl appearance in 2010. Even with all the good memories and accomplishments, however, one criticism that keeps coming up is his weak coaching tree, and his struggles to consistently hire strong coordinators. One former Steeler certainly agrees with that idea.

Former Steelers running back Merril Hoge recently joined the DVE Morning Show on 102.5 WDVE, and he didn’t hold back when talking about Tomlin’s coaching tree, or the lack thereof. 

"If you look at his history, he hasn't put the smarter people around him, the smartest people that he can. The coaching tree tells you that," Hoge said. "If there was one flaw that Mike had maybe, it was the evaluation of coaches and getting people in that were just smarter in an area; and if there was probably in his 19 years, there was never really any great depth around him, aside from initially.”

When Tomlin first arrived in 2007, he basically inherited a fully stocked, experienced coaching staff that already knew how to operate at a championship level. Dick LeBeau was already in place as defensive coordinator, a Hall of Famer who had been running one of the league’s most respected defenses since 2004. 

On the offensive side, Bruce Arians was promoted from wide receivers coach to offensive coordinator once Ken Whisenhunt left for the Arizona Cardinals that offseason. That move kept consistency on offense at a time when Ben Roethlisberger was still developing into the quarterback that would define the next decade of Steelers football. It wasn’t just good timing, it was stability, and Pittsburgh benefitted from it.

With LeBeau and Arians working at the same time, the Steelers arguably had their best coordinator combo in modern franchise history. The team went to two Super Bowls during that stretch, bringing home one Lombardi Trophy and coming painfully close to another. The offense had balance, defense was feared league-wide, and team had a clear identity. It felt like everything was lined up exactly how it needed to be.

However, once Arians left in 2011 and LeBeau departed in 2014, things started to shift. Pittsburgh has been trying ever since to find coordinators who could recreate what those two legends brought to the team, and it just hasn’t found that same formula. The offensive coordinator carousel alone has been a major point of frustration. 

Todd Haley had some success statistically, but it was up and down. Randy Fichtner struggled to modernize the offense, especially as Roethlisberger aged. Matt Canada became one of the most criticized coordinators in team history, with fans calling for change long before the team finally made the move.

Defensively, things weren’t much smoother. Keith Butler, although respected, never fully replicated the dominance of LeBeau’s schemes. The defense had All-Pro caliber players, but the overall unit never returned to its old identity of suffocating opponents and creating turnovers at a high rate. There were flashes, sure, but flashes aren’t the same as consistency.

That’s really the heart of what Hoge was pointing out. Tomlin’s early success came with coordinators who were already established, already great, and already comfortable in their roles. When it came time for Tomlin to hire and develop new coaches of his own choosing, the results never matched the standard set in those early years. That doesn’t erase his accomplishments, but it does explain why his coaching tree is so thin. Very few assistants under Tomlin went on to become highly successful coordinators or head coaches elsewhere.

Steelers Targeting New Coordinators As Head Coach Hunt Rolls On

As the Steelers search for their next head coach, they’ll also be evaluating potential new coordinators and assistant coaches. This follows a report from team insider Gerry Dulac stating that all of Tomlin’s assistants have been given the freedom to pursue other opportunities, leaving their futures in Pittsburgh entirely dependent on the incoming head coach’s decisions. 

That group includes Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin, both of whom could be replaced depending on the direction the new head coach chooses to go. While the organization’s top priority is identifying the right head coach to lead the team forward, securing a strong staff around that hire will be just as crucial. 

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