Pittsburgh Steelers head coach and future Hall of Famer Mike Tomlin has been bandied about as a potential candidate for the USC Trojans vacant head-coaching job.
Former Trojans quarterback Carson Palmer spoke on that recently, indicating that Tomlin is on the radar of the brass in Southern California. Said report seemingly threw a lot of people for a loop given that Mike Tomlin is among the most-successful professional coaches in history and has one of the most-popular jobs in the NFL world.
In addressing this with the media on Tuesday, the Super Bowl-winning coach did not mince words. He’s not interested in the Trojans job, and he will never be interested in coaching college football.
“I don’t have time for that speculation. That’s a joke to me. I’ve of one of the best job in all of professional sport,” Tomlin said. “Why would I have any interest in coaching college football? Never say never.But never. There’s not a booster with a big enough blank check.”
The video actually gives this more justice.
The interesting thing here is that Mike Tomlin legitimately has no connections to the USC Trojans. He graduated college at William & Mary while coaching amateur football with Memphis, Arkansas State and Cincinnati before entering the NFL ranks as the defensive backs coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2001.
Related: Updated NFL power rankings
No surprise Mike Tomlin isn’t interested in USC job
We’re talking about a NFL head coach who has earned one Super Bowl and two conference titles since taking over for Bill Cowher back in 2007. This span has seen Tomlin lead Pittsburgh to the playoffs nine times while posting a 146-79-1 record.
There’s also something to be said about job security. The Steelers have had all of three coaches since the end of the 1968 season. Yeah, that’s a real thing.
As for USC, this job might not be as attractive as the powers that be in Los Angeles believe it is. We’re talking about a football program that has not made it to a major bowl since back in 2016 under the recently-fired Clay Helton. The Trojans find themselves at 3-4 on the season and have not won double digit games since back in 2005 under Pete Carroll.