At least two NFL coaches have been asked about the USC opening this fall. The first, Urban Meyer, looked directly at his feet and in September.
No coach’s denial is worth much, but Mike Tomlin’s on Tuesday was at least much more entertaining.
“That’s a joke to me,” the Pittsburgh Steelers coach said when asked about Carson Palmer mentioning his name on the radio on Monday.
“I got one of the best jobs in professional sport,” an increasingly agitated Tomlin said. “Why would I have any interest in coaching college football?”
“Never say never, but never!” Tomlin yelled. “Anyone else got any questions about college jobs? There’s not any booster with a big enough blank check.”
“Anybody asking Sean Payton about that? Anybody asking Andy Reid about stuff like that?”
Tomlin raised a decent point before storming off: white coaches with his tenure and Super Bowl pedigree are generally not linked to college jobs. (Unless you’re the disgraced Jon Gruden, but that was different because Gruden wasn’t coaching when he was .)
It’s not just Palmer — the former Trojans star and NFL Pro Bowler — and USC, though. Earlier this week, ESPN personality and for LSU to “make [Tomlin] an offer that would truly make him disrespectful to Lord Jesus Christ to turn down.” There’s no word on Christ’s prognosis for Ben Roethlisberger’s balky right arm.
