Has anyone had a weekend like Bill Cowher had here last weekend?
Friday, Cowher was in a cap and gown and received an honorary degree from Duquesne University. Friday night, he was in a black tie at Mel Blount’s celebrity roast of Troy Polamalu. Saturday, he was in a golf shirt in Ben Roethlisberger’s basement as the special guest on Roethlisberger’s “Footbahlin” podcast. Monday, he turned 66.
Is that living life large or what?
The podcast was fascinating.
It started with Cowher — Crafton-born, Crafton-raised and still a Pittsburgher through and through — sipping an Iron City beer and munching on Chef Evan’s gourmet food. But it wasn’t just any can of Iron. It was one that honored Cowher’s Hall of Fame induction in 2020.
“You did a lot of great things on the football field, but until you get your face on a beer can ... ” a beaming Cowher said to Roethlisberger. “Make sure you put [my face] toward the camera.”
The podcast ended roughly 100 minutes later with Cowher burping on air — did I mention he still has a lot of Pittsburgh in him? — and telling Roethlisberger, that, even though the two had “uncomfortable conversations” early in Roethlisberger’s career, “I know what you have inside you. You just have the right fiber about you.”
In between, Roethlisberger extracted some wonderful gems from Cowher that I hadn’t heard. Roethlisberger did a similarly insightful interview with Mike Tomlin a few weeks earlier.
Cowher clearly was relaxed, talking about, among many subjects, both humorous and serious, including what it was like to replace four-time Super Bowl winner Chuck Noll as Steelers coach in 1992, his reaction to Roethlisberger’s motorcycle accident in June 2006, his decision to leave the Steelers after the 2006 season, his career change to television with CBS and his election to the Hall of Fame.
A BIG SHOT AT CARLYNTON HIGH
Cowher wasn’t thinking about adding to the Steelers’ Lombardi Trophy collection when he took their job.
“I’m going back home,” Cowher said. “I’m 34 years old. I tell people, ‘My first goal was not to get fired the first three years.’ I wanted to go back to my 20th high school class reunion as the head coach of my hometown team.”
Cowher lasted 15 seasons and won 149 regular-season games and 12 postseason games, including Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks.
‘WEAR A HELMET, DAMN IT!’
Cowher recalled coming home from a vacation in North Carolina to visit Roethlisberger in the hospital after his motorcycle crash. Roethlisberger had seven hours of surgery to repair a broken jaw and other facial bones.
“I told you, ‘You’re going to be OK. We’re going to take care of you,’ ” Cowher said to Roethlisberger. “I walked away thinking, ‘This may be the best thing in the world. He got knocked down.’ I’m also thinking, ‘I’m going to yell at him at some point.’ You were like my kid.”
That meant a lot of tough love and those “uncomfortable conversations.”
One involved Roethlisberger’s off-field behavior, including riding his bike without a helmet.
“If you cross the line, my job is to pull you back. A lesson learned,” Cowher said. “I tried to take that approach with the whole football team. I wanted a bunch of very confident, cocky players coming on the field. Be a little edgy. Don’t be afraid to take some risks. Don’t be afraid to go out there and try to do something that no one else has done. ...
“But if you get disrespectful, if you get selfish, I’m going to pull you back and make sure we’re in this together. Those are the messages you give your kids even going through life.”
Another uncomfortable conversation happened a few months later — early in the 2006 season — when Roethlisberger and the Steelers got off to a slow start.
“Ben, you’re flinching,” Cowher told Roethlisberger.
“No, I’m not.”
“You really are.”
“You’d flinch, too, if you were in a motorcycle accident!”
“I know. But you’re OK. Get back to being who you are. I’m not going to put you out there if there’s any risk to you.”
The Steelers started 2-6 in 2006 and finished 6-2. Still, it was Roethlisberger’s worst season. He threw for 18 touchdowns with 23 interceptions.
GOODBYE PITTSBURGH
Cowher walked away from the Steelers after that 2006 season. His wife, Kaye, who was in the initial stages of a battle with skin cancer, had moved with their three daughters to North Carolina to be close to her family.
“We had talked about how the championship year was going to be my last year, but my agent talked me into coming back and trying to win it a second time,” Cowher said. “I hear people say I checked out. But I had nothing else to do in Pittsburgh but coach. I’d go home on Friday nights and have pizza with my mom and dad. I was alone in my house.
“My wife told me I could do what I wanted to do [in 2007]. But I can’t coach by myself. My family was everything to me. I stepped down, and my wife passed three years later [at 54]. I was there with her every step of the way.”
HELLO NEW YORK CITY
Cowher said he never seriously considered coaching again. One reason: “I couldn’t come to grips of being the coach of another team. This was my team.” A second reason: “I was blessed to get the TV job.” A third reason: His second wife, Vee, is a singer/songwriter from New York.
“All of a sudden, I’m loving the city because of the anonymity up there,” Cowher said. “No one knows who you are. You can go to Central Park. Normality was coming back for me. I think I lost a little normality when I was here in Pittsburgh because you can’t go anywhere.”
‘I’D LIKE TO WELCOME YOU TO CANTON, OHIO’
Pro Football Hall of Fame president Dave Baker gave Cowher news of the greatest professional honor of his life on the CBS set during the pregame show before the Ravens-Titans playoff game in January 2020. Cowher said he had just about given up hope that he would be inducted even though he believed he had a strong resume.
“When you look at the quarterbacks we won with ... ” Cowher said. “Ben was the best one I had, and I only had him for three years. Two of those years, we went to the [AFC] championship game and won the championship the other one. I said, ‘If Ben doesn’t get into an accident, I’m not so sure we don’t go back to back.’ We won more games than anybody in the league in the 15 years I was in Pittsburgh. Yeah, we lost a bunch of championship games. I get that. But if I had stayed here, it would have been a no-brainer. I thought I probably walked away from a Hall of Fame career because I knew this was a team that could have won again, as you did three years later. It was a special team.”
You might guess how the podcast ended.
Roethlisberger and Cowher tapped beer glasses and toasted each other.
Perfect, just perfect.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter @RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: May 13, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: May 13, 2023, 12:23 p.m.