On Friday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers decided to extend the contract of head coach Mike Tomlin an extra two years. Tomlin has been the team's head coach since the 2007 season and has led the team to one Super Bowl title in 2009 when the Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in one of the greatest championship games in NFL history. He holds a coaching record of 111-63 over a total of 10 seasons, which includes the regular season and playoffs.

When Tomlin was hired at the age of 35, he became the fifth youngest head coach to hold the position in all of the four major sports leagues in America.

He has consistently led the team to the postseason play during his tenure, making seven playoff appearances out of a possible ten. Three of those have come in the last three seasons. Last year, Mike led his Steelers to the AFC Championship game but would come up short to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Establishing a winning culture

At the young age of 36, Tomlin won his first ever Super Bowl title in just his second season in the NFL. Two seasons later, he would lead the team back to the championship but would end up losing to the Green Bay Packers.

Tomlin is known for being an intense coach on the sidelines that doesn't seem to have to say much to get his players to perform the right way on the field. His need-to-win mentality also seems to rub off on his players considering the fact he's coached a future Hall of Famer in "Big" Ben Rothlisberger.

The culture that Mike has established for the Steelers franchise has made them an almost guaranteed pick for the playoffs the last ten seasons.

He's given the city of Pittsburgh about as much consistency as you could ask for at his position. By leading the Steelers to the AFC championship last season, coach Tomlin has bought himself some extra time in the only city he's ever held a head position.

Experience pays off

Prior to getting the head coaching job with Pittsburgh, Tomlin held positions on the staff of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Minnesota Vikings.

For the Bucs, he was the defensive backs coach from 2001-05. He spent one season in Minnesota as the defensive coordinator in 2006, a year before he was hired by the Steelers. He would benefit from spending time with Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy and a possible future HOF coach in Jon Gruden in his time with the Bucs.

Dungy and Gruden have won a combined three Super Bowl rings at the head coach position and the experience they provided Mike Tomlin with has seemed to certainly pay off and provide him with years of job security. When his new contract is up in 2020, it will be Mike's 13th season on the payroll.
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