Bill Cowher has waited a long time for this moment, and it won’t be long now until August.
Good things come to those who wait. Bill Cowher has had to wait longer than most for the gold jacket since hearing he would be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
Cowher paid tribute to his friend and mentor, Marty Schottenheimer, via a message on Twitter.
Longtime NFL coach and Pittsburgh-area native Marty Schottenheimer died Tuesday at age 77. He had battled Alzheimer’s Disease since 2014.
Players, colleagues and friends took to social media to share their condolences and memories of Schottenheimer.
Former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher posted a touching tribute to his friend and mentor on Twitter.
“He mentored me from the moment I met him,” wrote Cowher. He was an amazing coach, teacher, leader, and most importantly, my friend.”
Schottenheimer was defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns when Cowher, 23, played linebacker.
After Cowher’s playing days were done, Schottenheimer, now Browns head coach, hired him as special teams coordinator in 1985. He was promoted to defensive backs coach in 1987.
When Schottenheimer resigned in Cleveland and was quickly snapped up by the Kansas City Chiefs, he took Cowher with him. Cowher served under Schottenheimer as defensive coordinator from 1989 to 1991.
It was because of Schottenheimer that Cowher got a chance to coach in the NFL. Ultimately, Schottenheimer guided and prepared Cowher for his head coach role with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Marty, you always said, "There's a gleam, men!" It's true, and that gleam is, and always was, YOU. Rest in peace Coach, love you. pic.twitter.com/PONiVZxm8f
The Steelers 2020 season was barely over when the “Fire Tomlin” cries started on social media.
The Steelers 2020 season was barely over when the “fire Tomlin” cries started on social media — there are select fans from whom it’s never-ending.
For years, I was in the camp of “The Steelers shouldn’t get rid of Mike Tomlin. Who are we gonna get to replace him?!” But I’m beginning to see that being in that camp is being satisfied with the Standard is the Standard. Season after disappointing season — for the last 10 years — the Steelers have standard regular seasons and flop in the postseason — if they make it there.
Perhaps the standard shouldn’t be the standard anymore. Perhaps the bar needs to be set higher. Is Tomlin capable of that? It seems only a fresh perspective from a new head coach could solve the Steelers’ run-of-the-mill seasons — where, if Pittsburgh even makes the playoffs, coaches and players are woefully unprepared, and they exit ungracefully with their heads down.
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A recent article from TribLive’s Tim Benz opened my mind about the Steelers ousting Tomlin. We shouldn’t wonder who is going to replace him. Just trust the process because ownership knows a thing or two.
Benz referenced Matt LaFleur (Packers), Sean McDermott (Bills) and Kevin Stefanski (Browns) to make his case for the caliber of coach the Steelers could get if they went in a different direction. All three are former coordinators who made a successful transition into the head coaching ranks.
Tried and true philosophy
While that’s all well and good, we know it’s not going to happen. At least not as long as Tomlin wants to coach. Anyone familiar with the history of the Steelers — and most of us are — know that the Rooney family isn’t going to stray from their head coaching philosophy. It’s one that’s tried and true; management values continuity and familiarity. Ownership isn’t going to fire Mike Tomlin. They haven’t fired a coach in 52 years and they aren’t going to now. The Rooneys will allow Tomlin to coach until he doesn’t want to coach anymore. Why? Because year after year, he’s put the Steelers in a position to win the division and make the playoffs. That’s more than a lot of teams can say.
The Rooneys have never given us a reason to doubt their process for hiring only the best.
Bill Cowher came from Kansas City, where he was the Chiefs defensive coordinator for three seasons. In his first season, the Steelers were 11-5. Chuck Noll was in charge of defensive backs with the Baltimore Colts. It took him three years to turn the Steelers around, but that was a different era, and the team had struggled for decades prior. Mike Tomlin was defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, and in his first season, Pittsburgh was 10-6 and first in the AFC North. Each one had been on NFL coaching staffs for seven to nine years before they were head coaches. These hires prove that the Rooney’s track record of hiring great, eventual Hall of Fame head coaches — they’ve never given us a reason to doubt that they can do it again.
Who knows how much longer Tomlin will reign in Pittsburgh. His current contract expires along with Ben Roethlisberger’s in 2021. Will they ride off into the sunset together?
If Tomlin retires after next season, he’ll be the same age (49) as Cowher was when he resigned and will have coached for the same span of time (15 years). Noll presided over Pittsburgh for 23 seasons.
Trust the Rooneys to scour the NFL landscape and bring on the right guy after Tomlin retires. As we know, whoever it is will be around for a long, long time.
The Buffalo Bills have turned the final corner in the race for the AFC East title and are now in the home stretch. They can’t mess up now, can they? A win and the deed is done.
With that in full focus, keeping up with the latest divisional news seems to be of a bit more importance than usual. Let us help you get up-to-date.
Here are eight stories from the AFC East from the past week for Bills (10-3) fans to know, starting with a quick Week 14 game recap for each team:
Rumors pegged Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher as a fit for the Jets, but he isn’t interested.
Rumors swirled this past week about Bill Cowher making a return to the sidelines, specifically with the Jets should they fire Adam Gase. However, it turns out the Hall of Fame coach is happy in retirement.
WFAN’s Boomer Esiason speculated that Cowher hasn’t shut the door on a potential return to coaching and that he finds the Jets job to be an attractive one. However, Cowher told ESPN’s Rich Cimini that he doesn’t plan on making a comeback.
“I have no interest in coaching,” Cowher said.
Pertaining to the Jets job, specifically, Cowher doesn’t want to overstep by talking about a job that’s not open yet. But it doesn’t sound like he would be interested in any open positions, either.
“I have too much respect for the coaching profession to talk about a job that isn’t open,” Cowher said. “From that perspective, any job that is open, I have no interest in coaching.”
The 63-year-old has been out of the game since 2006. He had a 15-year stint as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, amassing a 149-90-1 record. He won a Super Bowl in his second to last season in 2005.
A coach like Cowher would give the Jets increased credibility given his winning pedigree and long list of career accomplishments, but that’s no happening, according to him. It’s unclear what or who exactly the Jets will look for when it comes time to replace Gase, but Cowher seems to be comfortable where he’s at on “The NFL Today.”
On Pittsburgh’s 93.7 The Fan Morning Show, Cowher talked about the Steelers-Browns rivalry.
The Browns had gotten so bad since their return to Cleveland in 1999 that Steelers fans don’t even view them as a rival anymore. In the Ben Roethlisberger era, Pittsburgh is 23-2-1 versus Cleveland. Is it really a rivalry when one team owns the other?
This was a discussion topic with former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher on 93.7’s The Fan Morning Show.
The Steelers-Browns rivalry seems to have been lost with the younger generations because of how immense the rivalry of the Baltimore Ravens became. Colin Dunlap asked Cowher where the rivalry stands for him.
“For me, it certainly has always been [a rivalry] being that I was on the other side of it with the Cleveland Browns for so many years,” said Cowher.
Cowher began his coaching career in 1985 as an assistant under then Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer.
Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY NETWORK
“I remember back in 1986, the Browns came down to Three Rivers Stadium having lost 16-straight years, they called it ‘The Pittsburgh Jinx.’ I was coaching special teams, and Cleveland got the first win with Gerald McNeil. He returned a kickoff a hundred yards.”
By a score of 27-24, Cleveland won on Pittsburgh’s turf for the first time since Three Rivers opened in 1970.
“I think when you look at the Browns back in the day, we had ‘The Drive,’ ‘The Fumble.’ I think in the 80s, it lost a little bit of its luster because not both teams were on top.”
Cowher explained how the Browns were good in the 90s when now Patriots head coach Bill Belichick led them. “It was a pretty good rivalry then. It was the Turnpike rivalry. It was two cities near each other, the blue-collar cities, very passionate sports fans, and very proud of their hometown teams.”
Even though the rivalry fell flat since the Browns became the Browns again, Cowher believes new head coach Kevin Stefanski has been good for the team.
“I think for the first time, now, Kevin Stefanski has got this team playing very well; there’s no drama as there’s been in years past.”
“This is a very big game in terms of trying to make a statement in the league. They want to play with the big boys. It’s been Baltimore and Pittsburgh for so many years in this division, and now, for once, Cleveland is trying to stake their claim into that mix.
Cowher credits Stefanski for turning the Browns around so quickly. “He’s keeping that team very focused and very grounded with the way they’re playing the game of football,” he said.
The former Steelers head coach suggests both Baker Mayfield and Ben Roethlisberger be patient. “Take what the defense is giving them, and seize the opportunities when they come.”
It’s going to be a fun game to watch. Let’s just hope Pittsburgh seizes (at least) one opportunity more than Cleveland.
Steelers’ Bill Cowher and Ben Roethlisberger did some reminiscing yesterday on “NFL Today.”
When CBS’ “The NFL Today” analysts recently were asked to reveal their Super Bowl predictions, without hesitation, Bill Cowher exclaimed, “It’s a repeat of Super Bowl 40! Pittsburgh, Seattle!”
The former Steelers head coach shared this revelation with his Super Bowl 40 quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on “The NFL Today” on Sunday.
“I ask that you hold up your end of the bargain,” Cowher said. “Just letting you know that I’m putting…”
“… added pressure on me,” Roethlisberger finished.
“Yeah, you can handle that, can’t you,” Cowher smirked.
“If I hold up my end of the bargain, you come up to me and grab me by the collar like you did in that famous picture and told me, ‘Don’t ever do that again. Great play!'”
“Great play. Don’t ever do that again… only if it works,” Cowher retorted.
The particular play they refer to is when, five minutes into the 4th quarter, Big Ben took off running, barreling through the first of two open lanes. After what was more of a tumble than a slide, he ended up in a ball on the ground at the feet of Seahawk defenders.
But on a third-and-2, Roethlisberger got five.
Cowher shot a death glare (with some chin) in his QB’s direction.
As if defying the Cowher staredown, on the very next play, Ben threw a key block on strong safety Michael Boulware, which allowed a wide receiver-to-wide receiver touchdown from Antwan Randle El to Hines Ward for 43 yards.
Those classic plays, of course, are from the 2006 Super Bowl when Pittsburgh came to Detroit to battle Seattle. The 21-10 win was the first and last Super Bowl of the Bill Cowher era, and the final stop for Jerome “The Bus” Bettis. Ben Roethlisberger also became the youngest quarterback ever to win the Super Bowl, a title he holds to this day.
“If I hold up my end of the bargain, you come up to me and grab me by the collar like you did in that famous picture and told me, ‘Don’t ever do that again. Great play!'” AP Photo/Amy Sancetta
The Pittsburgh Steelers announced in June that multiple players on the team had tested positive for the coronavirus. Now, according to Ed Bouchette at The Athletic, former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher and his wife both tested positive for the antibodies in April and believe they might have contracted it in March after a trip to Hawaii.
This doesn’t mean Cowher and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus. But regardless, when things like this hit close to home within the Steelers family, it gives one pause. Cowher also indicated he isn’t certain if there will be an NFL season.
In an interview with The Athletic, former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher shares his thoughts on whether there will be football this year.
Bill Cowher, our favorite former head coach, has his doubts that the NFL will move forward with a season this year. Like most of us, he knows the ramifications of COVID-19 can weigh heavily on the league and its players.
Cowher knows a thing or two about the virus because he and his wife believe they contracted it in March. Prior to states shutting down, the two had both traveled extensively and slowly began to experience symptoms. Although Cowher and his wife were not tested when the symptoms occurred, they tested positive for antibodies in April.
Cowher hasn’t been involved in the league — from a coaching standpoint — for 14 years now. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. He still holds a special place in his heart for the sport and the incredible athletes who play it.
So when it comes to his take on whether pro football will happen this year, his concerns are prevalent.
“I don’t know [if the league can pull it off],” Cowher said in an interview with Ed Bouchette of The Athletic. “No. 1, the players have to feel comfortable with whatever they come up with from a testing standpoint, from a protocol standpoint. I totally understand the reluctance. Even though they say young people aren’t getting it, you also have people who have asthma, people who have underlying conditions in their families — they’re going back to their homes with parents who may now be elderly. It’s not like you can isolate yourself from everybody, particularly during a season that’s five months long. …
“I still think we have a long way to go,” he said. “It’s going to come down to the league and the NFLPA feeling comfortable moving forward, and even within that if they come up with a set of guidelines, and now a player who doesn’t feel comfortable, he may not want to be part of it. It affects people differently not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint. … I think we have to respect that.”
Bouchette brought up an excellent possible scenario in his article: “And what, for example, if on the day before a game, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger tests positive for COVID-19? What about teammates he might have come into contact with during the week? What if all three quarterbacks test positive?”
No one knows just yet — beyond testing — what the exact solution for that scenario would look like.
Cowher said the other pro leagues that are now re-convening will serve as a ‘litmus test’ for football.
“It’s going to come down to a set of guidelines that are fair to everyone, and there’s going to have to be flexibility within that. Between now and then, what happens with these other pro leagues, seeing how they handle it, will be a little bit of litmus test for the NFL to see how they can make adjustments. The timing for the NFL … you’re able to see other professional leagues, other professional athletes, start back up, and see how they are handling testing and some of the protocols that are being set.”
I think we can all agree that we’d rather have football this fall than not. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. There’s no doubt that the league is working tirelessly to ensure that players will be safe if football is played.
