12 years in secret: Former NFL coach reveals massive Minecraft city

Mike Tomlin is best known for his long tenure as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 54-year-old spent 19 seasons with the NFL team, winning a Super Bowl and never finishing a season with a losing record. Away from football, however, Tomlin apparently spent plenty of time with a controller in hand. For around 12 years, he has been quietly building an entire city in Minecraft.

It all started when Tomlin played Minecraft with his children while they were still in school. They eventually lost interest, but he kept going. Tomlin now describes building in Minecraft as a therapeutic way to unwind. His children did play another important role, though, helping him preserve the world across multiple console generations – from the PlayStation 3 to the PS4 and eventually the PS5 (currently $750 on Amazon).

Skyscrapers, hotels and even his own stadium

Tomlin shows just how far the project has come in the first episode of a new series on his official YouTube channel. The nearly 20-minute video, titled “Rooftops, Penthouses, and Urban Living,” offers only a glimpse of how much there is to explore. The city features skyscrapers filled with fully furnished apartments and penthouses, a boutique hotel with conference rooms and a basement bar, and even a large aquarium. Parks, water features and several sports venues are scattered throughout the city as well, including football and baseball stadiums, although neither is shown in the first episode.

The level of detail is particularly striking. Tomlin has thought about everything from public restrooms and lighting to the number of sinks in individual apartments. Some buildings are even modeled after real-world locations. One residential complex, for example, is based on the apartment building where one of his sons lived while studying at the University of Maryland. Familiar names such as PNC Bank and CVS can also be spotted around the city.

Reddit is impressed by the 12-year commitment

The Reddit community has been quick to praise Tomlin’s project. More than anything, users seem impressed by the sheer commitment involved. Spending twelve years working on the same Minecraft world requires an extraordinary amount of patience and dedication. Tomlin is also earning extra praise for apparently building the city in Minecraft’s Bedrock Edition. Unlike the Java Edition on PC, Bedrock does not offer the same selection of mods and tools that can make copying, editing or constructing massive structures much faster. In other words, much of Tomlin’s sprawling metropolis may really have been built block by block.