Unfulfilled Legacy
Upper Echelon Eludes Cowher
By Jerry DiPaola

Several years ago, when Three Rivers Stadium was still standing, two reporters were loafing in a small room the Steelers had set aside for the media.

In walks Steelers defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, whose goals and aspirations were greater than spending an entire career on coach Bill Cowher's staff. He looked at the reporters and asked, "How old is Cowher's youngest daughter?"

Strange question, indeed, but Haslett's thoughts always were and still are thought-provoking, if peculiar. Told that Lindsay Morgan was short of junior high school at the time, Haslett grimaced.

Explaining, Haslett said Cowher had made it known that he planned to coach the Steelers as long as one of his three daughters was still in high school.

Which was longer than Haslett planned to be a mere assistant in the National Football League.

Haslett, who left after the 1999 season to become head coach of the New Orleans Saints, was right. Now in his 14th year, Cowher remains a rock in the Steelers organization and probably will be far beyond this season.

By virtue of nine playoff berths -- and a 10th sure to follow in a few weeks -- Cowher, 48, has won the trust of the Rooney family, the respect of his peers in the coaching profession and the hearts, minds and battered bodies of his players, who work hard for him, sacrifice for him and win for him.

A good coach gets the most out of his players under all circumstances and Cowher -- with the exception of late-season collapses in 1998 and 1999 -- seldom fails on that count.

SHY OF GREATNESS

It can be argued with undisputable logic that Cowher's failures in the postseason leave him just shy of greatness and, therefore, unworthy for ultimate induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That's true. Painfully true for the Steelers' unreasonable legion of fans.

Cowher is not yet a great coach; maybe he never will be. He must win a Super Bowl -- or reach another -- for him to ascend that peak. But Cowher is a winning coach in the marathon of a regular season, and that's not such a bad thing.

With 130 regular-season victories in his first 13 seasons -- not counting the 7-3 start to 2005 -- Cowher averages 10 per year (even with the miserable seven-, six- and six-win seasons of 1998, 1999 and 2003).

Still, it's not enough. Fans demand victory every week, even if no NFL team has finished a season undefeated since 1972.

But it was Cowher who set the bar when he first insisted that the team will settle for nothing less than a Super Bowl championship.

Right now, he is failing -- some will say miserably - although right-thinking people won't go that far.

The Steelers entered the home stretch of the '05 season -- the final six games -- tied with the Cincinnati Bengals for first place in the AFC North that the Steelers have won two of the past three seasons.

Cowher has lost three close games this season -- two without Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback. A recent 16-13 loss to the hopeless Baltimore Ravens in overtime was a testament to questionable coaching.

Cowher admitted that plays were slow to get from the coaches' box to the sideline to quarterback Tommy Maddox's earpiece. That's inexcusable inefficiency that is hard to believe in the immaculately scripted NFL.

Consecutive option and pass plays on third-and fourth-and-1 both ended in failure.

Two carries for Jerome Bettis in a game where shaky play by Maddox demanded someone to prop him up left many people scratching their heads. It was the second time this season Cowher has ignored Bettis in a loss.

What was Cowher thinking?

SURVIVAL

But he is strong enough to survive such mistakes. The man has job security - another team would hire him about 11 seconds after he left the Steelers. Cowher knows how to run a team and survive the rigors of the NFL. You don't win that many games by accident.

A survivor? You bet.

Cowher's arrogance on that count is what sets him apart from most coaches.

Many years ago, respected veteran sportscaster Sam Nover -- long a Cowher antagonist -- was retiring and his employer, Channel 11, sent a film crew to training camp at St. Vincent College to record Cowher's thoughts on Nover's career.

After the camera had been shut off, Cowher smiled and said, in a playful tone, "One down and 19 of you other (guys) to go."

Cowher was kidding, of course, because he legitimately liked Nover and their back-and-forth dialogue at news conferences. Still, it's clear that Cowher knows he can outlast almost anyone.

But surviving Nover was the least of his conquests.

It was after the 1999 season that the Rooneys had a difficult decision to make, which -- in the end -- became no decision at all.

Cowher and director of football operations Tom Donahoe weren't speaking for a variety of reasons and hadn't been for a long time.

The event that sparked their wordless feud was Donahoe's assertion after an ugly playoff loss to the New England Patriots after the 1996 season that the team played "flat." Donahoe used that word when speaking to reporters in a private interview, and when Cowher was asked to elaborate at a news conference the next day, he snapped, "Ask Tom."

Three years later, Dan Rooney and his son Art Rooney II decided it was impossible to do business amid such acrimony and forced Donahoe's resignation.

Donahoe had been with the organization as a trusted, intelligent and hard-working employee for 14 years. Dan's father, Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr., was a good friend and associate of Donahoe's grandfather, former Pennsylvania Gov. David L. Lawrence. But that was the depth of Cowher's roots in the organization. It was easier for the Rooneys to replace a front-office executive, with whom the team had lesser contractual obligations, than to fire Cowher.

It would be difficult to find a head coach who will endure and win in the manner of Cowher, who has been with the team since 1992 and is one of only two coaches the organization has known since 1969.

Since winning the power struggle with Donahoe -- the man who was at least partially responsible for hiring him -- Cowher has received two contract extensions from the Steelers and is signed through the 2007 season at about $4 million per season.

Which brings up another point:

The Steelers have traditionally extended Cowher's contract when there were two seasons remaining on it. That is a clever ploy to avoid Cowher going into the final season without a new deal, a situation that would invite raiders.

The Steelers entered the final six games of this season as a contender for the Super Bowl, but certainly not the favorite to get there. If the Steelers fail -- again -- to win the Super Bowl, would the Rooneys give Cowher another, richer contract? If the Super Bowl is the goal and Cowher keeps missing it, should he be rewarded?

There might be debate within the organization, but most likely, Cowher will coach the Steelers for a long time -- until his youngest daughter is married and moved out of their Fox Chapel home, if that is his desire.

The Rooneys are comfortable with the devil they know when the devil they don't know probably would be worse.

Jerry DiPaola is an assistant editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. He is the NFL editor for the Pittsburgh Sports Report.