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Cowher Resigns From Steelers

The question that has been asked more often in the last 11 months has finally been answered, as Bill Cowher has resigned his position from the Pittsburgh Steelers after 15 seasons.

Cowher decided to step down from his head coaching job with the Steelers to retire to North Carolina with his family. 

The 49-year-old Cowher left with one year left on his contract following an 8-8 season that was a disappointment, especially after last season: The Steelers became the first team to win three playoff games on the road and then the Super Bowl as a sixth-seeded AFC team.

“History will look back on Bill Cowher as one of the great coaches of all time,” Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said.

The Steelers will begin a coaching search immediately to replace the departing Cowher, who called Rooney on Thursday to inform him of his decision. Cowher, one of the NFL’s most recognizable faces and successful coaches, has weighed resigning since shortly after the Steelers finally won the Super Bowl in February.

One of the NFL’s rarest events now will occur — a Steelers coaching search. They have had only two coaches since 1969, when they still were playing in Pitt Stadium: Chuck Noll (23 seasons) and Cowher. The Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts have had 15 coaches during that time.

Cowher has talked of wanting to spend more time with his family, especially now that they are living in a new home in Raleigh, N.C., where he and wife Kaye attended North Carolina State. Cowher’s two oldest daughters are at Princeton and the youngest has 2½ years of high school remaining, time Cowher apparently doesn’t want to spend away from her. While Cowher is resigning, there is no indication he is retiring from pro football.

He said he is not weary of coaching or dealing with players. “Do I looked burned out?” Cowher asked at a recent news conference.

Cowher, who led the Steelers to the playoffs 10 times, the AFC title game six times and the Super Bowl twice, met with Rooney and team president Art Rooney II on Tuesday and asked for several days to weigh his future plans following an 8-8 season.

There was an understanding a decision would be made quickly because the Steelers don’t want any top candidates accepting other jobs before talking to them.

The Steelers gave Cowher the option of returning next season and completing his current contract, but that arrangement probably wouldn’t have satisfied either side.

Cowher, if he coaches again, has signaled he wants to be one of the league’s highest-paid coaches. His current $4 million-plus salary is about half that of Mike Holmgren, whose Seahawks lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl last season. The Steelers have given no indication they are willing to pay any coach an $8 million salary.

Cowher is the NFL’s longest-tenured coach with his current team; Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher, with 13 seasons, is second. Cowher, a former Pittsburgh-area high school player, is third among active coaches in regular-season victories with a 149-90-1 record, and fourth overall with a 161-99-1 record counting postseason games.

When Cowher was hired in January 1992 at age 34, he said his only goal was to put a fifth Super Bowl trophy inside the Steelers’ trophy case at Three Rivers Stadium. It took him 14 years and two Steelers stadiums to do so, but he finally managed it.

If he wants to return to a sideline immediately, with another team and at a much higher salary, that team would have to work out compensation with the Steelers because Cowher is under contract for 2007. But several players said they were certain that if Cowher didn’t coach the Steelers next season, he would not coach any team.

“After careful and deliberate consideration I’ve decided to resign today,” Cowher said. “I’ve given it a lot of thought and believe it’s in the best interests of my family and myself at this time.”

Cowher, who grew up in Crafton, said coaching in the NFL and winning the Super Bowl had always been a dream.

“To be able to do that and realize that in the city I was born and raised in — this Crafton boy lived a dream.”

He also thanked the Steelers fans for their their passion and support.

“You can take the people out of Pittsburgh, but you can’t take Pittsburgh out of people.”

He said he had no immediate plans, including no immediate plans to work for TV, and looked forward to spending time with his family at their new home in Raleigh, N.C.

“I don’t have any preconcived thoughts and there’s something refreshing about that,” Cowher said.

He noted that his parents and brothers still live in the Pittsburgh area and that he plans to maintain ties, including his and his wife’s work with the Family Resources, a non-profit group that provides child abuse prevention and treatment services.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 5th, 2007 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Steelers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.