For the past 12 years, Mike Tomlin has been leading a double life. Football fans knew him as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a role he held from 2007 to 2025. But while he was guiding his team to playoff contention with remarkable consistency during that stretch, he was working on something much bigger in the privacy of his own home: an astonishingly detailed Minecraft city.
Following an interview with Today in which Tomlin revealed he is a “big Minecrafter,” the former NFL star has now opened the doors to his secret digital paradise. Tomlin has posted a tour of the impressive city he’s been building in the game for 12 years to his new personal YouTube channel. The 19-minute video, the first in a planned series, has already racked up over 750,000 views on YouTube at the time of writing.
You’ll understand why viewers are captivated by it as soon as you watch it. The video is astonishingly wholesome, as Tomlin proudly shows viewers around his city with his son at his side. Tomlin explains that he first got into Minecraft by playing with his kids, and quickly became obsessed with it. He continued building even after his kids flew the nest. It will melt your heart.
It will also blow your mind. Tomlin’s Minecraft city is a jaw-dropping creation that gave the former coach a place to practice his interior design and urban planning skills for over a decade. The city is built around large bodies of water, with tall apartment complexes surrounding a massive central pond. Rivers run through the city, a decision that feels connected to the Three Rivers that run through Pittsburgh. It’s largely made up of residential buildings and the occasional CVS, its logo spelled out in blocky letters.
It also features a recreation of Trump Tower for some reason. “Not an endorsement,” some on-screen text reads when it appears for a moment. “This build is c. 2015 … We didn’t think he would win.” Relatable! (For the record, the Pittsburgh Steelers did not win in their 2015 season, losing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the playoffs after a 10-6 season. Vintage Tomlin!)
The most impressive part of the video is just how detailed Tomlin’s town is. He takes viewers inside several apartment complexes, revealing that each one has its own distinct interior design. One building features apartments that are designed around a central aquarium. Another features an underground speakeasy lit by glowstones.
My favorite touch, though, is a residential area called The View, which was inspired by where his son lived when he went off to college. That detail paints Tomlin’s city as a living document of the last 12 years — a reminder of the special role games can play in our lives. I’m already dying to see the next installment of the tour to learn more about both the city and Tomlin himself.
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It’s hard not to be awe-stricken by it, but a cynic — perhaps one who is a fan of a rival AFC team with the same number of Super Bowl rings — might question Tomlin’s commitment to his craft. Could Tomlin have used that time more effectively to study tape? Note that the Steelers have not been in the Super Bowl since Tomlin’s big win in 2009. If Tomlin began working on his Minecraft city around 2014 … Well, you can draw your own conclusions. You wouldn’t catch Bill Belichick mining redstone when he could have been throwing Rob Gronkowski through a wall. The standard is the standard, Mike!
Then again, Bill Belichick isn’t in the NFL Hall of Fame and Mike Tomlin has the #1 trending gaming video on YouTube right now.