After 19 years, a Super Bowl, and 16 winning seasons, the Pittsburgh Steelers are beginning their search for the fourth head coach in the history of their franchise after Mike Tomlin announced that he was stepping away from the team following his sixth consecutive playoff loss.
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It’s the end of an era for both Pittsburgh and the NFL as a whole, but for the team’s former star linebacker, James Harrison, it’s an opportunity to air out some of that old locker room laundry.
“The first time that I know he lied to me was in 2010,” Harrison started during the latest episode of his podcast. “But that wasn’t the biggest thing,” he insisted. “I didn’t have that relationship with him to understand that he had no obligation to tell me the truth.”
According to the two-time Super Bowl champion, he eventually grew to be fine with Tomlin’s lack of honesty. However, “The big thing was the first time he lied ON me.” That instance apparently came three years later, but even it pales in comparison to the outlandish text exchange that the two supposedly had after another five years.
“As much as he says he doesn’t listen to outside noise, I found that to be a lie in 2018. You wanna know how I know? Because he texted me. He was into his feelings. I said [Bill] Belichick was a better coach than him… He responded with something like, ‘[LaMarr] Woodley was a smarter player than you.'”
Not wanting to paraphrase or cause any misunderstandings about his claims, Harrison proceeded to reach over and grab his cellphone. While he didn’t offer up his phone screen to the camera, he read aloud that Tomlin’s text message was received on August 7, 2018, at 1:35 p.m., shortly before the Steelers’ 2 p.m. practice time.
Harrison then read his former coach’s entire text message verbatim, which again, allegedly, went as follows:
“Wood was a smarter player than you, but I would never say that to anybody but you. I’m not with you for what you say, I’m always with you because of your relationship with the game and what you were willing to do. Don’t act funny. I will always be with you, no matter how f**ked up you are lol.”
The former linebacker claimed that he informed Tomlin that he would not have been offended by him making such a statement in public, and that he was simply giving “his honest opinion to a question that was asked” at the time. He then echoed back Tomlin’s sentiment of being with him “no matter how f**ked up YOU are.”
Harrison’s revelations pull back the curtain on a relationship that, like many in professional sports, appears far more complicated than the public ever saw. His comments do not just revisit old grievances, but arrive at a moment when the Steelers are stepping into unfamiliar territory without the coach who defined nearly two decades of their identity.
Whether Tomlin chooses to respond remains to be seen, but Harrison has made it clear that he is finished holding his tongue. With Pittsburgh now searching for a new leader and former players beginning to share their unfiltered experiences, the legacy of the Tomlin era will likely be debated for years to come, not only for the wins and losses, but also for the personal dynamics that shaped one of the NFL’s most stable franchises.
