Should Tomlin receive a contract extension this off-season?

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Should we let him go and promote BA to the head enchilada?

JUST KIDDING! But my point was new coach = new system = new coordinators = sets a team back probably two years minimum. We are still contendahs for the next two years in my opinion, with MT as HC, it's not like we're the Raiders or Chiefs (ouch ).

Whiz seemed to get his team in contention so quickly because he hired all the Steelers he could, so it really wasn't as much of a miracle as it would have been otherwise.

[feltdizz]

Whiz is also in the worst division in football...He has been able to win the division with a 9-7 record. Not taking anything away from what he has done with AZ because they had a culture of losing too.

Whiz was smart to go with Warner but I think any of us could've walked into AZ the last few years and win that division. The other 3 teams fell off a cliff.

[Shawn]

Yes

I hope that helps.

[phillyesq]

I can't believe it's even being discussed as something that isn't guaranteed. He already won a Super Bowl and at the end of the season we were still fighting for a playoff spot. You can't possibly put that string of losses on Tomlin's shoulders alone even though he's already shouldering the blame. He's going to get extended because that's the "Steeler way" AND because he deserves to be extended. Pittsburgh prides itself on standing behind it's coaches. I have zero interest in becoming the next Washington Redskins or Cleveland Browns.

Tomlin will get extended. No question. The article is stupid and nothing more than a pot stirring session because numb nuts had nothing else to write about.

I'm not sure that I understand why Tomlin doesn't deserve the blame for the terrible losses this year. He is the head coach. One upset can happen to anybody, but after that, he failed to get the team ready to bounce back. The Steelers had one of the easiest schedules in the NFL, and they played down to their competition. The head coach bears significant responsibility for that.

IMO, the jury is still out on Tomlin. What if the unthinkable happens and the Steelers miss the playoffs again next year? Will everybody still want Tomlin back after that? Lets see how he overcomes adversity. Last year, he looked lost at times during the terrible losing streak.

I'm rooting for him to rebound, but if he doesn't, I think locking him into a contract now could be a disaster for the Steelers.

[SteelCrazy]

Lobbying to keep Bruce may end up choking him out.......

I want him to stay, but hope he has been learning from his mistakes made on and off the field.

Yeah....

"Unleashing Hell" will cost him but umm...

Yeah...

You know you want to join the Hate Arians Club.......Come on in, the water is fine.....

[BURGH86STEEL]

I can't believe it's even being discussed as something that isn't guaranteed. He already won a Super Bowl and at the end of the season we were still fighting for a playoff spot. You can't possibly put that string of losses on Tomlin's shoulders alone even though he's already shouldering the blame. He's going to get extended because that's the "Steeler way" AND because he deserves to be extended. Pittsburgh prides itself on standing behind it's coaches. I have zero interest in becoming the next Washington Redskins or Cleveland Browns.

Tomlin will get extended. No question. The article is stupid and nothing more than a pot stirring session because numb nuts had nothing else to write about.

I'm not sure that I understand why Tomlin doesn't deserve the blame for the terrible losses this year. He is the head coach. One upset can happen to anybody, but after that, he failed to get the team ready to bounce back. The Steelers had one of the easiest schedules in the NFL, and they played down to their competition. The head coach bears significant responsibility for that.

IMO, the jury is still out on Tomlin. What if the unthinkable happens and the Steelers miss the playoffs again next year? Will everybody still want Tomlin back after that? Lets see how he overcomes adversity. Last year, he looked lost at times during the terrible losing streak.

I'm rooting for him to rebound, but if he doesn't, I think locking him into a contract now could be a disaster for the Steelers.

He said you can't put the blame on Tomlin shoulders a lone. Just like you can't put all the wins on his shoulders.

I am not sure any schedule in the NFL is easy. All teams in the league have the talent to win. Maybe the competition played up to the level of the Steelers? Our players made mistakes on the field that coaches could not control. Most games boil down to what happened on the field.

You will never be sold on Tomlin if you are not by now. I don't know how someone reached the conclusion that a coach looked lost. Ultimately, the games boiled down to how the players performed on the field. A coach can have the team prepared but it is up to the players to perform on the field.

[feltdizz]

Lobbying to keep Bruce may end up choking him out.......

I want him to stay, but hope he has been learning from his mistakes made on and off the field.

Yeah....

"Unleashing Hell" will cost him but umm...

Yeah...

You know you want to join the Hate Arians Club.......Come on in, the water is fine.....

tig ole bitties will not win me over.

phillyesq I agree.. the losses and skid are all Tomlin but it's crazy to think you move on because a SB winner went 9-7 the next year.

[Shawn]

Tomlin has to shoulder some of that blame. But, this was mainly a problem with fatigue and short situation execution not game plan.

[stlrz d]

Whiz is also in the worst division in football...He has been able to win the division with a 9-7 record. Not taking anything away from what he has done with AZ because they had a culture of losing too.

Whiz was smart to go with Warner but I think any of us could've walked into AZ the last few years and win that division. The other 3 teams fell off a cliff.

If Leinart hadn't sucked so bad there's a chance Whiz wouldn't have been so "smart".

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers' Tomlin waits for contract

Sunday, February 28, 2010
By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Mike Tomlin has a year plus an option remaining on his original Steelers contract.
While the coach he beat in Super Bowl XLIII just received a new contract that doubled his income, Mike Tomlin is still without a new deal from the Steelers.

Like Tomlin, Arizona's Ken Whisenhunt had led the Cardinals to two playoff appearances and a Super Bowl berth in his first three seasons as coach. And, like Tomlin, he had a year plus an option remaining on the original contract he signed in 2007.

But, Thursday, the Cardinals surprised Whisenhunt with a new four-year contract with a fifth-year option that will pay him between $5.5 million and $6 million annually and give him more control over roster and staff decisions.

And Tomlin, who has a 34-19 career record and an all-important Super Bowl trophy, still waits.

"It wasn't an issue with me," Whisenhunt was saying Saturday in the hallway at Lucas Oil Stadium, taking a break from the NFL Scouting Combine. "It never has been. I was very honored that they would consider that. Obviously, it's something you want because it does, on a level, serve as recognition of doing a good job, and for that I'm very grateful. Who wouldn't want a new contract?"

Historically, the Steelers have always extended the contract of their coach when he had two years remaining on the deal. But history also has shown that the extension has typically come in the spring or summer months leading up to training camp.

It is not known if the Steelers have discussed a new deal with Tomlin, who declined Saturday to talk about the subject. Team president Art Rooney II also will not comment on the matter.

Nonetheless, the new deal given to Whisenhunt, a former Steelers assistant who was bypassed for Tomlin as Bill Cowher's replacement, points up the salary climate for head coaches in the National Football League. Especially for those who have had success just three years after taking over their new team.

"Ken has done a magnificent job for us and, in many respects, that is as an understatement," Cardinals general manager Rod Graves said inside Lucas Oil Stadium. "He's a pleasure to work with. We've had a chance to know him in ways others don't. We respect the leadership qualities, we respect the type of program and infrastructure he's worked hard to put in place with our team and [team president] Michael Bidwell understood that.

"We knew that it was important to maintain the stability and continuity in our program, and Ken has been a tremendous part of that."

Indeed, Whisenhunt took over one of the worst franchises in NFL history -- the Cardinals had not won a playoff game since 1947 and had not been in the postseason since 1998 -- and changed their culture quicker than anyone imagined anybody could.

In his second year, the Cardinals won the NFC West, posted two surprising road victories and took the franchise to its first Super Bowl, where they lost to the Steelers on Santonio Holmes' touchdown catch with 35 seconds remaining.

This year, unlike the Steelers, he was able to repeat as division champ and win a playoff game before being ousted in the postseason by the New Orleans Saints.

"If you look at an organization like Pittsburgh, where you lose a Bill Cowher and the next coach comes in and a lot of elements were in place that allowed it to continue and be successful, certainly that would be attractive to a head coach," Whisenhunt said. "And they went on and won a Super Bowl. There were a lot of questions about Arizona that have been answered, with the new stadium, could they win if they had a plan. And I think we've showed that to a degree."

He has the new contract to prove it.