Mike Tomlin steps down after 19 seasons as coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin was an unknown when the Pittsburgh Steelers plucked him from obscurity in 2007 and handed the young and charismatic Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator one of the most stable jobs in sports.

Over the next 19 seasons, Tomlin wrote his own chapter with one of the NFL's marquee franchises, winning a Super Bowl and going to another while becoming one of the most respected voices — if idiosyncratic — voices in the game.

Asked repeatedly what separated Tomlin from his peers, his players pointed to his consistency. Tomlin was the same coach day after day, season after season.

That consistency, far too often of late, also bled into the results. And after yet another quick playoff exit, Tomlin used his voice one last time to tell team president Art Rooney II that it was time to try something else.

The longest-tenured head coach in major American professional sports stepped down from his job leading the Steelers on Tuesday, a seismic shift that will have ripple effects throughout the league.

“I am deeply grateful to Art Rooney II and the late Ambassador (Dan) Rooney for their trust and support,” Tomlin said in a statement released by the team. “I am also thankful to the players who gave everything they had every day, and to the coaches and staff whose commitment and dedication made this journey so meaningful.”

Art Rooney II, who took over for his Hall of Fame father as team president in 2003, lauded Tomlin for his dedication to the franchise and ability to churn out competitive teams year after year in an era when parity is the norm.

“It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin,” Rooney said in a statement. “He guided the franchise to our sixth Super Bowl championship and made the playoffs 13 times during his tenure, including winning the AFC North eight times in his career. His track record of never having a losing season in 19 years will likely never be duplicated.”

Tomlin's early success, however, leveled off into a pattern of solid if not always spectacular play, followed by a playoff cameo that ended with the Steelers looking outclassed at every turn.

The 53-year-old Tomlin won 193 regular-season games in Pittsburgh, tied with Hall of Famer Chuck Noll for the most victories in franchise history. But their resumes diverged when it comes to the playoffs. While Noll won four Super Bowls in the 1970s, Tomlin went 8-12 in the postseason, losing each of his last seven playoff games, all by double-digit margins.

The final came Monday night, when the AFC North champions squandered some early momentum before getting drilled 30-6 by Houston, the most lopsided home playoff loss in team history.

There were chants of “Fire Tomlin!” as the clock kicked toward zero, though they weren't nearly as impassioned as they were in November while the Steelers were getting pushed around by Buffalo in a loss that dropped their record to 6-6.

Tomlin did his best to tune out the noise and his team responded, the way it seemingly always did during his tenure. Pittsburgh won four of its final five games, including a sweep of Baltimore that gave the club its first AFC North title since 2020.

The optimism, however, dimmed once the Texans asserted themselves. The NFL's top-ranked defense suffocated Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh's offense while the league's highest-paid defense wilted late.

It was a familiar and frustrating pattern for a place where, as Tomlin noted not long after his introduction, “the standard is the standard.”

And while that remains the case for a team whose members walk by six Lombardi Trophies every day on the way to work, the results had plateaued. The Steelers finished with 9 or 10 wins in each of Tomlin's final five seasons, often doing just enough to squeak into the playoffs before being exposed by a more talented opponent.

Tomlin had two years left on the contract extension he signed in 2024, with the club holding the option for 2027. Should Tomlin want to return to coaching in the NFL before his contract with the Steelers expired, the club could seek compensation.

Either way, his departure leaves the Steelers looking for a head coach for just the third time since they hired Noll in 1969.

Pittsburgh likely won't lack for attractive candidates. The club's stability combined with its ability to remain competitive even without a franchise quarterback for the last half-decade means whoever gets the job will be given substantial leeway to get the team back to the top.

The announcement came as somewhat of a shock. In the final question he fielded as head coach, Tomlin painted an upbeat picture about the team's future.

“I'm always feel optimistic about what we’re capable of doing in terms of putting together a group, certainly,” he said Monday night.

And with that, he stepped off the dais and into a future that will not lack for options. Long one of the most confident and imminently quotable people in football — his weekly news conferences were peppered with what became known as “Tomlin-isms” — he could step into television if he wants, as Cowher did after retiring.

Yet it seems just as likely that he will have his choice of jobs if or when he wants to coach again. Players defended Tomlin — almost uniformly popular within the locker room — to the end.

Tight end Pat Freiermuth called Tomlin “one of the best coaches I'll ever play for, probably the best. In my opinion his message hasn't got stale. I believe in him.”

Freiermuth added that his belief extended to general manager Omar Khan, who will be in charge of finding the right person for one of the most attractive coaching gigs in any league.

Tomlin's two predecessors are in the Hall of Fame. Tomlin could very well find himself getting fitted for a gold jacket of his own. Yet rather than try to come back next year and break Noll's record for regular-season wins, he opted to, as Noll once famously put it, “get on with his life's work.”

And the Steelers will try to find the right person to help them return to the standard that the franchise lives by, one it clutched at but never quite grasped during Tomlin's final years.

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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, right, stands on the sideline during the first half of NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Houston Texans, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin reacts after a Houston Texans touchdown during the second half of NFL wild-card playoff football game, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin yells before an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Houston Texans, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Firefighters responding to a blaze that destroyed a massive medical equipment warehouse in Northern California that was still burning a day later were hindered by sprinklers and hydrants that weren't working, authorities said Friday.

The 1 million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) warehouse in Tracy, a city about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) east of San Francisco, supplied medical equipment to area hospitals. It's owned by Medline, a major medical-surgical products provider of medical equipment such as latex gloves, masks, surgical instruments.

Smoke billowed Friday from the blaze that sent embers flying for miles, as firefighters continued to put out hot spots and city crews cleaned debris from nearby streets.

Authorities said they don’t yet know why the water system failed during the blaze but it appeared to be a problem with the facility’s system, not city supply.

Local fire codes generally require large warehouses to have hydrants and sprinklers and ensure both are functioning, said Brian O'Connor, a licensed fire protection engineer with the National Fire Protection Association.

“If you have a large facility, it can be difficult for firefighters to stretch a hose from the closest public hydrant to the building,” he said.

Crews responding to the blaze that broke out around 1 p.m. Thursday encountered flames on the roof and noticed no water coming out of the building's sprinklers, Tracy Deputy Fire Chief Brian Bagley said. A fire official found a pump was pushing little to no water through both the sprinklers and on-site hydrants, he said.

Firefighters were forced to try to connect to city hydrants instead. The building was engulfed by fire within 40 minutes, Bagley said.

"It’s very, very challenging,” Bagley told reporters. “You can imagine it's a skyscraper laying on its side.”

He said firefighters have gained ground on the blaze they are battling in windy and low humidity conditions with temperatures that reached 95 degrees Friday.

“The density and the volume of smoke has changed drastically from this morning. The smoke is a lot lighter and not quite traveling as far,” he said, adding that the wind was helping the smoke move away from residential areas.

The facility was evacuated, and no one was injured. The massive warehouse was one of more than 50 distribution centers across the country for Medline, which according to its online catalog sells bandages, wheelchairs, catheters, hospital beds and many other medical supplies.

It is not clear what exactly was stored at the Tracy warehouse but the company said in a statement that it was mainly serving Northern California hospitals and that following the fire, it activated a contingency plan.

“Product distribution previously supported by the Tracy facility has been reassigned and it is in the process of being deployed to other facilities within our regional network to help maintain service and support customer needs,” Medline said.

Bagley said crews on Friday were trying to give drivers access to the property to remove trailers loaded with medical equipment that were not affected by the fire.

Mary Massey, who is in charge of the hospital preparedness program at the California Hospital Association, said it was too early to know the impact on medical supplies for regional hospitals but that most medical service providers have cooperation agreements to get urgent supplies if needed.

“We write plans for these kinds of things and we work together, not just hospitals, but also clinics, long-term care, dialysis, public health, ambulances. We all work together,” she said.

Embers from the blaze sparked two grass fires, and set pallets and multiple big rig trailers at a nearby FedEx facility ablaze. Firefighters were able to knock those fires down.

Crews overnight had to contend with new fires in trailers that were loaded with supplies.

Bagley said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would help investigate the cause of the blaze, but authorities would probably not be able to get into the warehouse for at least a couple of more days. The sprinkler system had been tested in January by an outside company and no issues were found, Bagley said.

Fire officials were still working on Friday to gather additional information about inspections of the warehouse's water systems, said Nicole Boswell, a spokesperson for the fire department. She said local fire officials also conduct annual inspections of businesses, including their water systems, but she did not know what the fire department found during their recent inspection of the warehouse.

The warehouse is in a massive industrial park that also houses fulfillment and distribution centers for Amazon, Home Depot and FedEx.

Bagley recommended people near the fire stay indoors but said air quality tests had not raised any “grave concerns.”

Smoke is seen from the massive fire at the Medline medical supply warehouse a million-foot facility, in Tracy, Calif., Friday, June 12, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Livermore Mayor John Marchand takes a photo of smoke from a medical supply warehouse fire in Tracy, Calif., as seen from Livermore on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Smoke is seen from the massive fire at the Medline medical supply warehouse in Tracy, Calif., Friday, June 12, 2026. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Smoke from a medical supply warehouse fire in Tracy, Calif., is seen from Livermore on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

This image from aerial video shows black smoke pouring into the sky from a fire at a medical equipment warehouse in Tracy, Calif., Thursday, June 11, 2026. (KGO via AP)