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Mike Tomlin Seen Supporting Daughter at Georgia Gymnastics Meet After Steelers Exit

The longtime NFL coach was just a dad Friday in Athens, Ga.
Patrick Andres|
Mike Tomlin seemed to enjoy a family-oriented end to a difficult week.
Mike Tomlin seemed to enjoy a family-oriented end to a difficult week. | Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

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Pittsburgh Steelers

Ex-Steelers boss Mike Tomlin began this week as an NFL coach and ended it as a dad.

On Friday night, LSU and Georgia linked up in top-10 women’s gymnastics action in Athens, Ga. SEC Network cameras, scanning the crowd, happened upon Tomlin in the crowd in a Bulldogs sweatshirt—cheering on his daughter Harley, a sophomore member of the squad.

Mike’s wife and Harley’s mother Kiya was a gymnast at William & Mary, where she met her husband (then a wide receiver on the Williamsburg, Va., school’s football team). The No. 8 Bulldogs wound up defeating the No. 2 Tigers 197.2–196.85, with Harley scoring a 9.825 on both the beam and floor.

In NFL action, Pittsburgh lost 30–6 to the Texans Monday in an AFC wild-card game, a meltdown that seemingly invited Tomlin’s Tuesday resignation (the Steelers had needed a last-second field goal in their season finale to make the playoffs in the first place). He left Pittsburgh with a 193-114-2 record and a Super Bowl championship in 2008, and at just 53 is in the top 10 all-time in wins.

Now, he is merely a civilian and a proud father—and it seems apparent that there are worse things in life to be.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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