If Pittsburgh Steelers legend James Harrison had a Hall of Fame vote, he wouldn’t vote for now-former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
During a recent episode of his Joe and Deebo podcast, Harrison explained why he doesn’t think his former coach deserves to be enshrined in Canton based off of what he did in Pittsburgh. He pointed to Tomlin’s lack of a coaching tree combined with his underwhelming playoff record as two main reasons.
"I can’t give him a Hall of Fame coach because he hasn’t made disciples,” Harrison said, via Sports Illustrated. “You’re telling me you’re a Hall of Fame coach, and no one has followed you? That can’t be the thing. He’s the only coach that has coached this long and does not have a tree. Guys are emotionally attached to him, not performance.
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"It is purely what you did as coach," he added. "Did you get championships? Did you build disciples? Wins and losses is great, but those wins and losses have to add up to championships. A Hall of Fame coach should be making history for having the longest losing streak in playoff history?"
This isn’t the first time that Harrison has spoken out against Tomlin recently. Back in December, he called for the Steelers to move on from the coach while explaining why never considered Tomlin to be a “great” coach.
“I have never been a person that thought Coach Tomlin was a great coach,” he said. “I thought he was a good [coach]. … A good coach gets you to play to your potential, and right now, the players that we have on that team, I’ve seen play, they’re not playing up to their potential. A great coach gets you to play beyond your potential.”
Harrison is entitled to his opinion, and it sounds like he might have something personal against Tomlin, which is fine, but he’s kidding himself if he thinks Tomlin isn’t headed for the Hall. Even if Tomlin never coaches in the NFL again, he should be a virtual lock for enshrinement. If he does return to the sideline someday, he could further bolster his resume.
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