Bill Cowher walked away from coaching at an age when most NFL coaches are still firmly in the middle of their careers. After 15 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and a Super Bowl title, Cowher stepped down at 49 following the 2006 season. Nearly two decades later, he has explained why he never made his way back to the sideline.
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Speaking with former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden for NFL on CBS, Cowher said personal circumstances played a major role in his decision. He also found a new life in broadcasting that eventually made a coaching comeback feel less appealing.
“I stepped away with personal reasons. I lost my wife three years later,” Cowher said during the interview. “And when I did have the opportunities to come back, I’d been doing the work here at CBS for those three years.”
Cowher’s wife, Kaye, died in 2010 after battling melanoma. By that point, Cowher had already started his broadcasting career with CBS, joining the network in 2007. What initially could have been a short break from coaching eventually became a second career that Cowher grew comfortable with.
But there was another reason that made a return especially difficult. Cowher spent his entire coaching career with the Steelers, building a connection to the organization that made coaching somewhere else difficult to imagine.
“Honestly, probably the bottom line, I couldn’t see myself not being a Pittsburgh Steeler,” he said. “You know, I sat there for 15 years with one uniform. I’ve been in CBS now for my 20th year. I’m not a guy who likes to change.”
His Steelers teams went 149-90-1 in the regular season and 12-9 in the playoffs. Pittsburgh reached the postseason 10 times during his time as the coach.
The biggest moment came in the 2005 season. Pittsburgh beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 in Super Bowl XL. Cowher became a Super Bowl-winning coach after having previously taken the Steelers to Super Bowl XXX, where they lost to the Dallas Cowboys.
That made the decision easier for Cowher. He had already achieved the biggest goal of his coaching career and felt comfortable with what he was leaving behind.
“I like to be a part of a team and grow a team. And to go to somewhere else to do that, it just didn’t seem right. So, I never went back,” Cowher said.
Cowher has given different answers about a possible comeback over the years, but his decision ultimately became clear.
Nearly 20 years later, Cowher is still with CBS, but he has no regrets about leaving coaching. Family, life in New York, and his deep connection to Pittsburgh all played a part in his decision.