“I think Ryan Clark is a coach,” former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said on the Today Show.
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That’s immensely high praise coming from him for the former analyst, who were at Pittsburgh together from 2008 to 2013. Now that Clark is unfortunately without a seat at a studio desk, he could perhaps be inclined to pursue his former head coach’s claim.
“No one I respect more than Mike T,” Clark wrote on X, resharing Tomlin’s interview on the Pivot Podcast. “This made me smile. I thought I would coach after my career ended. I never thought I’d be blessed with 13 years, and Jordan would be starting high school when I retired. Wasn’t my time to coach. Maybe one day.”
Clark spent 13 years in the team across multiple teams, including the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders. His best years came during his Pittsburgh stint, where he was tallying more than 100 total tackles in his last three seasons. Tomlin has seen him grow into a leader, too.
“Whether or not he chooses to [coach] or not is up to him,” he added. “He has an approach and a passion. That’s real. He has ability to communicate. That’s real. He’s personable. He naturally connects with people in that way. I think that I think that if he ever choose to do it or chose to do it, he would be a rock star.”
This is not the first time that Clark has been viewed as a coaching candidate. A parody account stirred up buzz in December last year, after falsely reporting that the New York Giants had requested an interview with the former NFL safety and media analyst. With more than 500,000 impressions, there was a debate over whether it was true.
Clark’s name also started being circulated after Tomlin stepped down as head coach this year. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believed the former safety had enough grounds to make his case.
“I want to state for the record, and I’m not joking about this, I’m dead serious,” Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN’s First Take podcast in January. “I believe that Ryan Clark should’ve been interviewed for the [Steelers head coaching] job. … Philip Rivers got interviewed by the Buffalo Bills.”
Mike Tomlin knew Clark could help lead the team long ago, even though the latter just wanted to focus on his game. He’d approached Clark about the idea of being a team captain in 2012, but he’d declined. According to FOX News, he never wanted to be one and was relieved when his LSU team passed on him for the role.
But in 2013, he did not turn away from the honor; Ryan Clark was a defensive captain that season, now a proper, seasoned veteran in the secondary.
“Getting to go out for the coin toss is a plus,” he said in 2013. “It lets everyone else know that you care for your team, but it’s the little things you get to do to touch people’s lives that matter.”
After hanging up his cleats, Clark jumped straight into the broadcasting world and joined ESPN in 2015. He climbed the ladder quickly, appearing on various segments like Get UP, First Take, NFL Live, SportsCenter, among others. However, his ESPN stint ended on a rather unsavory note.
Following ESPN’s acquisition of NFL Network earlier this year, the former’s top brass had to make some “difficult decisions,” which led to the dismissals of veterans like Clark, Karl Ravech, Tom Pelissero, and more. Clark had been with the network for 11 years. He was informed of the decision when he was in the middle of shooting an episode for NFL Live.
“The rest of the day was eventful, but the journey continues,” Clark said on X after the news was broken. “My peace is with God, and my humility comes from within. I’ll continue to build myself so the world can never strip me of what’s real.”
Will that take him to NFL sidelines in the future? Only time will tell.