Jeff Tomlin

Coach Jeff Tomlin is an experienced educator and coach who serves as a presenter, keynote speaker, consultant, and mental performance coach. Known as “Coach T,” he collaborates with teams, teaching staffs, and organizations to help them reach their full potential. Coach Tomlin specializes in leadership development, culture building, character education, and mental performance. Jeff has been married for 38 years to his wife, Maria, and together they have raised two children and currently have two grandchildren.

Background and Experience

Coach Tomlin is a 36-year veteran of teaching and a 40-year veteran of coaching. Jeff’s extensive coaching experience includes being a head football coach for 31 years and a head track and field coach for 13 years. Stops on Coach Tomlin’s coaching journey include Chadron State College, O’Neill (NE) High School, Alliance (NE) High School, and for the last 21 years of Tomlin’s career, he served as head football coach at Grand Island (NE) Senior High. Tomlin is the longest-tenured head football coach in Grand Island Senior High's history and is the program’s winningest all-time coach, with a record of 148-74. Tomlin’s overall record as a head football coach was 204-114. Tomlin’s teams qualified for the Nebraska State Football Playoffs 25 times, with 14 of those teams qualifying for the quarterfinals, four qualifying for the semi-finals, and one team advancing to the state championship game. Tomlin’s teams won a combined 11 conference and 6 district championships. Coach Tomlin retired from teaching and coaching in the summer of 2024 and is currently an assistant football coach at Hastings College.

Jeff enjoyed a long and distinguished career, earning numerous accolades. Some of these honors include two Regional Coach of the Year awards and two Conference Coach of the Year honors. Coach T earned the Huskerland Prep Coach Mike Behrens Award in both 2013 and 2018. Tomlin also earned the Semper Fi Coach Award presented by the United States Marine Corps in 2016. In 2019, Coach Tomlin was named the Nebraska Coaches Association/HUDL State Football Coach of the Year as well as the 2019 NFHS Nebraska Football Coach of the Year. Jeff served as the Head Coach of the West Nebraska All-Star Game in 1998 and the Nebraska Shrine Bowl in 2008. As an educator, Tomlin earned Teacher of the Year honors at both O’Neill High School and Grand Island Senior High.