Most of you who know me know I love NFL Football and live and die with The Pittsburgh Steelers. Their coach of 15 years, Bill Cowher resigned today. I figured this would happen but am still saddened. Nobody figured anyone could replace Chuck Noll. Cohwer did pretty well and will never have to buy a meal in Pittsburgh again. in 38 years the team has had TWO coaches-amazing
a buddy of mine wrote this-thought I should share.
"Well, it's happened. He's gone.
15 years is a long time to spend in one job, there have been ups and downs but three constants have been there throughout, fairness,stability and passion. Throughout everything he went through in that time, I don't think any of those things ever wavered, through the Donahoe power struggle, through a QB carousel, through some off the field issues, he stayed true to himself, he stayed loyal to the Rooney family and he personified the team and the city as well as anyone could.
From the moment he walked through that door into his first press conference and said "the wealth of talent on this team is very impressive" to a group of reporters who could barely stifle the giggles long enough to see the team waltz to the Central division crown 11 months later, he knew that the Noll motto of "Whatever it Takes" would serve him well too.
Stability is the key to any good coach and Cowher mastered that, never wavering in how he dealt with situations, there were no double standards in the media, his players always knew where they stood with him and there aren't many coaches like that. And when you aim for stability, that doesn't mean to say you can't change, Cowher's insistence that "As long as I am the coach of this team, Kordell Stewart will be my QB", his reconciliation with Dick LeBeau, his realisation that power running was the core of this team and yet you still need to achieve balance on offense to go anywhere in the playoffs is more of a credit to him than people realise. Without his moving with the times, his realisation and indirect acknowledgement that he had got things wrong at times and that pure emotion and passion would not be enough to win the ultimate prize but solid X's and O's might, last year would not have been possible. He had his critics - myself being one of them - but a lot of the criticism he took from fans and media (who gave him an easy ride for the most part) was more of the tough love variety, we knew he could do it if he adjusted things fractionally and last year was proof of that. It was never malicious, it was almost like everyone rallying round and willing him on.
So what will the legacy be? For me, the legacy will be one great big 15 year long roller coaster ride, there was the off the field stuff which everyone knows I like, but the game was always the thing and from that first game in Houston to the last one in Cincinnati, it was never dull and they always made me proud, win or lose. The great moments, those great atmospheric Monday night games at Three Rivers where the whole thing felt completely special and on the road at places as far and wide as San Diego and Jacksonville, home playoff games, opening day games with star players getting injured and hopes being written off for a season only for them to rebound over the next 15 weeks, the greatest playoff run in NFL history last year, it's just been a really great ride, hasn't it?
I have little doubt, that this isn't the last we have seen of him, he's still relatively young, I'm sure there is an owner out there willing to drop $8 million a year on him and, perhaps more critically, all the personnel power that he'd crave, but for now he rides off into the sunset as the second best coach in Steeler history, which, had you offered it to him on January 21st 1992, I'm sure he'd have taken in a heartbeat.
So coach, we didn't always see eye to eye, I especially hated the way after that week in Dublin in 1997 where the team showed me that after a week of watching every practice you ran against Dave Wannstedt's Bears, meeting contacts, absorbing everything I saw and learning more about the game of football and the NFL than I had accumulated in the previous 10 years, that a "normal life" where I indulged in relationships, a healthy social life and career ambitions like normal grown men in their twenties do would never be possible, because this sport and your team would always get in the way of those things. I really did hate the way you guys screwed my life up in that regard, but there are moments I still think that it was almost worth it which tells you something. It's been a great ride, with great people and great memories so thanks coach and good luck in your retirement / sabbatical. May your replacement - whoever that might be - carry on the legacy that you left, that Chuck left and that ultimately The Chief left. Because if they do, success will never be far away and we'll always be grateful for that.
Good night and good luck."
