From one Mike to another, Mike McCarthy will succeed Mike Tomlin. Two veteran coaches with similar resumes, the two have already shared at least one conversation since McCarthy took the job. Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show Friday, McCarthy referenced a recent phone call with Tomlin.
“This building hasn’t changed in 19 years,” McCarthy said while admitting he’s still getting used to his new surroundings. “It’s funny, I was talking with Mike Tomlin the other day. He operated out of a different office. And I think the furniture, it’s still there from Bill Cowher. So us three had a laugh about the furniture. So I’m getting new furniture, so that’s a good gig. Because it’s been there for decades.”
Beyond the interior of the building, McCarthy didn’t offer more detail about the conversation with Tomlin. It’s also a little unclear if Cowher too was on the call. If so, it would be one heck of a moment between the trio, the only three people alive to say they’ve coached the Steelers.
That means McCarthy has spoken with the two Steelers head coaches who preceded him. He evidently has a strong relationship with Bill Cowher, both were mentored by Marty Schottenheimer, and is someone he spoke with shortly after McCarthy interviewed for the Steelers job. It was Cowher who revealed the third member of the interview room, Daniel Martin Rooney, who is widely believed to become Art Rooney II’s successor.
McCarthy also mentioned Tomlin didn’t leave a beer for him the way Cowher did in 2007. After 19 years, a beverage no one would want to drink, anyway.
“I’m sure Mike and I will catch up down the road here and have a couple ourselves,” McCarthy said.
Since stepping down, Tomlin has laid low and clearly isn’t intending on coaching in 2026. He made public appearances at his daughter’s gymnastics meet in Georgia earlier this month but has otherwise stayed out of the spotlight. A time to decompress for a coach who led the Steelers for nearly two decades.
In Pittsburgh, there’s a small fraternity of coaches. The lineage has consistently played out the same way. A longtime coach with plenty of success and at least one Super Bowl steps down, as opposed to being fired, with the next having big shoes to fill. McCarthy won’t coach in Pittsburgh as long as the two before him, but he’ll look to match, and even exceed, the success of his predecessors.