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Job Security Hard to Find in NFL, but Cowher Has It
Steelers Coach Was Hired in 1992
By JIM LITKE, AP Sports
No other NFL coach looks or acts like Bill Cowher on the sideline. That's why the camera spends so much time framing his mug. Even after 14 seasons, Cowher's expressions are so entertaining, it's a wonder his jaw doesn't have its own TV show.
That face isn't why Cowher got the Pittsburgh job, of course, nor why he's held on to the same one longer than any other member of the pro fraternity. The best record in the NFL since 1992, a string of respectable showings in the playoffs and a Super Bowl appearance are the reasons for that.
Still, without an owner who is patient and loyal - and Dan Rooney is both, almost to a fault - Cowher wouldn't have become the poster boy for NFL job security, a TV fixture as recognizable as Homer Simpson. Chuck Noll, Cowher's predecessor, wasn't nearly as telegenic, but with Rooney's backing, he stuck around for 23 seasons.
Not that any coach gets too comfortable these days. A week ago, on a day known in league circles as "Black Monday," four coaches were fired, bringing to eight the number who began this regular season in charge somewhere, but won't be around for the next one. Three of them made the playoffs a year ago, which prompted Cowher to say during the week leading up to the game, "You realize we're in a performance-now business."
But after Pittsburgh pounded AFC North rival Cincinnati 31-17 to wrap up the wild-card weekend, job security was the last thing on his mind.
"There was a lot that was being said leading up to this game, none of which I want to get into. We understood," Cowher said, "that this was a rivalry game."
Small wonder the Bengals were so eager to measure themselves against the Steelers. The rivals had met 71 times since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 deposited them in the same division, but never before in the playoffs, due to a postseason drought that stretched 15 years in Cincinnati.
In one of the more interesting historical footnotes, among Cowher's first hires after he got the Pittsburgh job in 1992 was Marvin Lewis, his counterpart Sunday on the Bengals' sideline. Cincinnati, coincidentally, had an opening that same year and hired David Shula. He struggled to win a quarter of his games, and Bruce Coslet and **** LeBeau, who held the job before Lewis became the Bengals' head coach in 2003, didn't fare much better.
A better attitude wasn't the only upgrade since Lewis' arrival. Known for his miserly ways, Cincinnati boss Mike Brown borrowed a page from the Rooney family playbook and plowed some cash back into the franchise. After two stabilizing 8-8 seasons, the Bengals were conducting their affairs like a real professional organization and playing in a new stadium to boot.
They kicked off this season with four straight wins, and beat the Steelers in early December, a win that all but locked up the division. It also prompted Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson to boast, "Times have changed, you know? Like black-and-white TVs, and then along comes color. It was Pittsburgh and now it's Cincinnati.
"That's the way it's probably going to be for a while now," Johnson added, "so everybody just get used to it."
Instead, the Steelers tore off four straight wins to claim the wild-card slot, a run that brought them back to Cincinnati as that rarest of road warriors - a 3-point favorite. Then they caught a huge - if unfortunate - break when Bengals Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer went down with a bad knee on the second play of the game. But they made their own luck the rest of the way.
Behind a stiff defense and a punishing running game, trademarks of Cowher's run in Pittsburgh, the Steelers scored 27 unanswered points. One score came on a flea-flicker, off a direct snap to receiver Antwaan Randle El, who ran right and threw back across the field to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who then heaved a 43-yard TD strike of his own to a wide-open Cedrick Wilson.
The camera predictably zoomed in on Cowher's wide smile, just as it did later in game to capture the coach's scowl when a similarly high-risk trick play backfired down near the goal line. Despite the different results, both plays showed Cowher's well-earned comfort level on the job.
Most coaches run plays like that only in the most desperate situations, afraid of the second-guessing they invite. Cowher's teams, on the other hand, take their cues from their coach. They never play scared. He's made wacky calls a trademark of his game plans, so much so that the Bengals had seen enough to put together their own highlight reel dating to the beginning of Cowher's tenure in Pittsburgh.
If they're smart, the Colts, who play host to the Steelers next week in Indianapolis, are rewinding their version even now. Cowher didn't promise anything special, but he's got a history.
"We're just going to go to the next game where they send us and we're going to try to find a way to win this next game," he said.
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org
01/09/06 04:16 EST
Steelers Coach Was Hired in 1992
By JIM LITKE, AP Sports
No other NFL coach looks or acts like Bill Cowher on the sideline. That's why the camera spends so much time framing his mug. Even after 14 seasons, Cowher's expressions are so entertaining, it's a wonder his jaw doesn't have its own TV show.
That face isn't why Cowher got the Pittsburgh job, of course, nor why he's held on to the same one longer than any other member of the pro fraternity. The best record in the NFL since 1992, a string of respectable showings in the playoffs and a Super Bowl appearance are the reasons for that.
Still, without an owner who is patient and loyal - and Dan Rooney is both, almost to a fault - Cowher wouldn't have become the poster boy for NFL job security, a TV fixture as recognizable as Homer Simpson. Chuck Noll, Cowher's predecessor, wasn't nearly as telegenic, but with Rooney's backing, he stuck around for 23 seasons.
Not that any coach gets too comfortable these days. A week ago, on a day known in league circles as "Black Monday," four coaches were fired, bringing to eight the number who began this regular season in charge somewhere, but won't be around for the next one. Three of them made the playoffs a year ago, which prompted Cowher to say during the week leading up to the game, "You realize we're in a performance-now business."
But after Pittsburgh pounded AFC North rival Cincinnati 31-17 to wrap up the wild-card weekend, job security was the last thing on his mind.
"There was a lot that was being said leading up to this game, none of which I want to get into. We understood," Cowher said, "that this was a rivalry game."
Small wonder the Bengals were so eager to measure themselves against the Steelers. The rivals had met 71 times since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 deposited them in the same division, but never before in the playoffs, due to a postseason drought that stretched 15 years in Cincinnati.
In one of the more interesting historical footnotes, among Cowher's first hires after he got the Pittsburgh job in 1992 was Marvin Lewis, his counterpart Sunday on the Bengals' sideline. Cincinnati, coincidentally, had an opening that same year and hired David Shula. He struggled to win a quarter of his games, and Bruce Coslet and **** LeBeau, who held the job before Lewis became the Bengals' head coach in 2003, didn't fare much better.
A better attitude wasn't the only upgrade since Lewis' arrival. Known for his miserly ways, Cincinnati boss Mike Brown borrowed a page from the Rooney family playbook and plowed some cash back into the franchise. After two stabilizing 8-8 seasons, the Bengals were conducting their affairs like a real professional organization and playing in a new stadium to boot.
They kicked off this season with four straight wins, and beat the Steelers in early December, a win that all but locked up the division. It also prompted Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson to boast, "Times have changed, you know? Like black-and-white TVs, and then along comes color. It was Pittsburgh and now it's Cincinnati.
"That's the way it's probably going to be for a while now," Johnson added, "so everybody just get used to it."
Instead, the Steelers tore off four straight wins to claim the wild-card slot, a run that brought them back to Cincinnati as that rarest of road warriors - a 3-point favorite. Then they caught a huge - if unfortunate - break when Bengals Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Palmer went down with a bad knee on the second play of the game. But they made their own luck the rest of the way.
Behind a stiff defense and a punishing running game, trademarks of Cowher's run in Pittsburgh, the Steelers scored 27 unanswered points. One score came on a flea-flicker, off a direct snap to receiver Antwaan Randle El, who ran right and threw back across the field to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who then heaved a 43-yard TD strike of his own to a wide-open Cedrick Wilson.
The camera predictably zoomed in on Cowher's wide smile, just as it did later in game to capture the coach's scowl when a similarly high-risk trick play backfired down near the goal line. Despite the different results, both plays showed Cowher's well-earned comfort level on the job.
Most coaches run plays like that only in the most desperate situations, afraid of the second-guessing they invite. Cowher's teams, on the other hand, take their cues from their coach. They never play scared. He's made wacky calls a trademark of his game plans, so much so that the Bengals had seen enough to put together their own highlight reel dating to the beginning of Cowher's tenure in Pittsburgh.
If they're smart, the Colts, who play host to the Steelers next week in Indianapolis, are rewinding their version even now. Cowher didn't promise anything special, but he's got a history.
"We're just going to go to the next game where they send us and we're going to try to find a way to win this next game," he said.
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org
01/09/06 04:16 EST
