Steelers’ Mike Tomlin discusses NFL minority coach hiring in HBO segment

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is cooling on the idea of speaking at “diversity workshops” in his profession, and he’s also growing weary in regards to repeated attempts by the NFL to encourage more minority hiring among its head coaches.

Asked, in a colorful way, on a new episode of HBO’s “Real Sports” if he believes that the league’s proclaimed aim in that area is mere empty lip service, Tomlin said: “I don’t know if it is at the time, but I know the results are.”

Tomlin was the only active Black coach interviewed for the segment of an episode of the show that premieres at 10 p.m. Tuesday. He was joined by former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and others who spoke with host Bryant Gumbel.

Gumbel notes that when Tomlin was hired 14 years ago, he was one of three Black coaches in the NFL. As the 2021 season approaches, the NFL also has three minority coaches.

“I don’t think any of us expected us (in 2021) to be sitting at three,” Tomlin said to Gumbel. “It is a global collective failure from my perspective.

“The bottom line is where we are is unacceptable.”

The career wins leader among minority coaches in NFL history, Tomlin is an obvious and popular choice to speak at functions and gatherings involving Black football coaches. But while he has historically enthusiastically accepted invitations to speak at such events, according to the HBO piece Tomlin has recently reconsidered attending the so-called “diversity coaching workshops.”

“The very existence of those workshops somehow indicates that there is a lack of talent in the minority pool or lack of readiness,” Tomlin said. “And that is not true.

“Certainly, they are nice fellowship weekends where we get an opportunity to catch up with one another. But they’re not the weekends they are made out to be.”

Tomlin cited Lewis, former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell, former New York Jets coach Todd Bowles and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris as viable Black candidates who could serve as head coaches again.

Gumbel mentioned Bruce Arians — a former Tomlin assistant — as a white coach who was given an extra opportunity who ended up guiding his third NFL team to a Super Bowl win. It’s an opportunity, Gumbel contends, wouldn’t have happened for a Black coach.

Tomlin was hired by the Steelers early in the enactment of the NFL’s “Rooney rule” that a minority must be interviewed for any head-coaching vacancy. The rule is named after late Steelers president Dan Rooney, and it has been tweaked in recent years.

“We can’t continue to do the same things that we have done and think that the outcome is going to change,” Tomlin said.

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