Ground-breaking Super Bowl winner Mike Tomlin is a head coach for the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers. He has guided the Steelers to ten playoff runs, seven division titles, three AFC Championship Games, two Super Bowl appearances, and a championship in Super Bowl XLIII since joining the team in 2007. Tomlin won the Super Bowl at the age of 36, breaking the previous mark set by Sean McVay in Super Bowl LVI. Tomlin is the first African-American head coach of the Steelers franchise and the tenth overall in NFL history.

Tomlin became the league’s youngest head coach to reach a Super Bowl when the Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the 2008 AFC Championship Game. He followed Chicago’s Lovie Smith and Indianapolis’ Tony Dungy, the two opposing coaches in Super Bowl XLI, as the third African-American to lead a team to the Super Bowl. Based on victory percentage (68.8%), he had a record of 22-10 after two seasons, the best in Steelers history.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, at the age of 36, Tomlin made history by becoming the youngest head coach to win the championship. The previous record holder was Jon Gruden, who led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory in Super Bowl XXXVII at the age of 39. Coincidentally, Tomlin was under Gruden’s leadership when the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and had a significant role in their triumph. He guided the franchise to a 12-4 record and their second Super Bowl appearance in three years in 2010. Tomlin signed a three-year contract extension in 2021, in order to remain as Steelers head coach until 2024.