Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin received a three-year extension earlier this week, much to the chagrin of some who want to see more playoffs success.
The team hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016, but former Steelers executive and former Buffalo Bills General Manager Doug Whaley says he would point to another issue.
Asked if a three-year extension was warranted, Whaley said it’s “nuanced.”
For Whaley it isn’t the lack of playoff success, it’s the lack of a coaching tree.
“If you look at it, (Sean) McVay has been in the league seven years and I can’t count how many guys he’s had, a coaching tree,” said Whaley. “There’s only been two and Bruce Ariens was ceremoniously led out of town, that was a head coach, and then Scotty Montgomery went to be the Head Coach at East Carolina. How do you coach 17 years, not have a losing season, win one Super Bowl and not have a coaching tree?”
Ariens was an offensive coordinator and Montgomery was a wide receivers coach.
Whaley did say that “I think (Tomlin’s) a heck of a coach”, but that his coaching tree and then his recently playoff failures can’t be ignored.