The Sports Truth

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Head Coach Bill Cowher are no longer negotiating an extension to a contract that runs through 2007. The team announced that it has ceased talks so he can focus on coaching the returning Super Bowl champions.

The team, which has had just two coaches in its 38 NFL seasons, has long had a policy of not negotiating during a season, but wants to renew talks with Cowher once the season ends.

This is the first time since Cowher was hired in 1992 that he’ll enter a season with as few as two seasons remaining on his contract. He and the team had been discussing an extension since shortly after Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl in February.

“I remain optimistic and hopeful that we will be able to conclude a contract extension which will keep Bill coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers for many more years,” Steelers President Art Rooney II told ESPN.

“However, we have all agreed that at this time we will continue those conversations after this season so that Bill’s focus, and the focus of the entire organization can be on the excitement and challenge of defending the Super Bowl championship.”

The lack of extension has created speculation that Cowher, 49, may retire at the end of the season, with the option of returning elsewhere as an NFL coach later in life. He and his family have purchased a $2.5 million home in Raleigh, N.C., where he attended N.C. State, and Cowher’s wife and youngest daughter are expected to live there this season. His other two daughters attend Princeton.

As recently as last month, Cowher was quoted as saying he hasn’t decided if he will coach again next season. However, Cowher was unhappy when former Steelers star and newfound analyst Jerome Bettis predicted on NBC that Cowher might be in his final season in Pittsburgh. The taskmaster sounded on Monday like a man far from through with coaching.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about my future, I’m here to say once again that it’s purely that, speculation. I don’t like talking about the contract because we’re in camp. I love coaching football, I love coaching here and there’s been a lot of speculation and I’m going to leave it at that,” Cowher said. “I can’t control the future — again, that takes two sides — but I do have two years left on my contract, contrary to what some people think. And that’s all I want to talk about it.”

A breakdown of Cowher and his legendary predecessor (and the only other head coach in the franchise’s history), Chuck Noll:

• Cowher (1992- ): 141-82-1, 12-9 Postseason, 1 Super Bowl
• Noll (1969-1991): 193-148-1, 16-8 Postseason, 4 Super Bowls

Maybe not the stuff of legend, but certainly not shabby for the longest-tenured coach in the game today. In fact, Pittsburgh has the NFL’s best record in since 1992 (barely edging out Green Bay’s 141-83 mark), when Cowher took over for Noll. Now he has a chance to do what Noll did twice — win back-to-back titles. The Steel Curtain claimed the NFL crown in the 1974-75 and 1978-79 seasons.

Bill should do what’s best for himself and his family, obviously, but as fans, it’d be sad for him to leave Pittsburgh. As one of the few staples in this modern NFL world, an old school guy leading the old school franchise, Cowher has become an institution. Enjoy him while you can!

Posted in Bill Cowher, NFL