Bill Cowher - Heart and Steel

Heart and Steel

Bill Cowher

With Michael Holley

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Copyright 2021 by William L. Cowher

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First Atria Books hardcover edition June 2021

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Interior design by Silverglass

Jacket design by Young Lim

Jacket photograph by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Author photograph of Bill Cowher Mary Kouw

Author photograph of Michael Holley NBC Sports Boston

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021933992

ISBN 978-1-9821-7579-5

ISBN 978-1-9821-7581-8 (ebook)

Words and music by Veronica Stigeler-Cowher and Billy Dean.

2019 Penned Up Music (BMI) and Billy Dean Music Group (BMI). All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. International Copyright Secured.

T o my parents, Laird and Dorothy Cowher: Thank you for showing me the true values of life: work, appreciation, and love.

To Kaye, Meagan, Lauren, and Lindsay: Im fortunate that I experienced so much of this journey with all of you. Youre the backbone of all Ive done, and your collective supportand presenceallowed me to experience professional success and growth. I love you more than words can express.

To Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Rooney, my mentors in football and life: Your principles gave me things to aspire to, and helped me become the man I am today.

To my wife, Veronica: Thank you for your unwavering support, love, and inspiration. With you, I can always see whats important in life. I look forward to the next phase that we travel together.

Bill Cowher stood out to me, even before we met the first time. After the 1991 NFL season, with the retirement of Chuck Noll, my father and I began the task of finding the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. There were several names on the list of coaches we wanted to interview, but Bills relative youth caught my eye.

At thirty-four years old, he was the youngest candidate. Initially, I wondered if wed even bring him in for an interview. When we eventually did, he stood out for different reasons. His passion for and love of football quickly filled the room. There was never a doubt about his ability to stand before a group of young men and hold their interest and attention. That was true on the first day we hired him, in January 1992, and that tireless drive remained for each of his fifteen seasons as the Steelers head coach.

As a member of the Steelers Hall of Honor and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bill is obviously an exceptional coach, teacher, and leader. Hes also an incredible family man. I saw up close how he successfully managed the demands of coaching while maintaining his family-first perspective. There are many reasons Bill and my father, Dan Rooney, shared a special relationship. I believe that their emphasis on family was a major one, and it gave them a connection that was far deeper than the game they both loved.

I can vividly remember my childhood when my father and my grandfather, known affectionately as The Chief, worked hard to make pro football into the year-round popular sport it is today. Back then, they were determined to transform a humble league (the Steelers equipment was stored in my grandfathers basement in the offseason) into one that became part of a citys and nations traditions. It was a big assignment, but even with that, I saw how my dad balanced marriage and parenting nine kids with work. His work with the Steelers and the league was important, but so was family time. He never changed, even when the Steelers became an iconic organization in pro sports.

That type of stability is important to Bill, too. I saw him at work and admired him there, just like the rest of Pittsburgh did. He was our representative: a regular Pittsburgh guy from a regular Pittsburgh neighborhood. Like many of us, he and his family made time for all Steelers games during football season. His dad was in Crafton, listening to Myron Cope on the radio, and my dad did the same thing on the North Side. Even Bills last name plays perfectly with the Pittsburgh accent. Bill Khour. We knew he was one of us, and he cared as much as we did. He poured a lot of timeand himselfinto coaching the Steelers. The teams history and legacy mattered to him.

I also saw him with his wife and daughters, and how they brought out another side of him. He has three daughters, and so do I (along with a son). Our kids are all around the same ages, so Bill and I watched our kids grow up together. And we saw each other grow as men. I realized that, as thrilling as Steelers games were for him, he was even happier when he watched Meagan, Lauren, and Lindsay compete in their sports. It was nice to see him go to NFL meetings and have his family on the trips with him.

One of the things you can say about Bill is that, simply, hes a winner. His teams made the playoffs the first six seasons of his career, and after his fourth season, he became the youngest coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl. We played in some of the leagues biggest games during his fifteen seasons, including Super Bowl XL, when we won the fifth of our six Lombardi trophies. Clearly, Bill was the right coach at the right time for the Steelers.

As youll see in the pages that follow, Bill is a winner away from football as well. His storys path is not typical nor smooth. He was a good athlete who played college and pro football, but not without adversity. He coached his hometown team and won a championship, but there were some sobering lessons learned along the way. And just a few years after the end of his coaching career, he and his family leaned on faith and one another after receiving sudden heartbreaking news. Bill has been through a lot, and through it all he has continually shown strength, compassion, and love. Im glad I got the chance to work with Bill with the Steelers, and developed a friendship that has lasted long after his time on the sideline. There are so many things I could say about him. After reading his memoir, youll see what I mean.

Art Rooney II, President, Pittsburgh Steelers

I grew up fifteen minutes from old Three Rivers Stadium, and for fifteen seasons I had the privilege of being the head coach of my hometown team. Pittsburgh Steelers fans likely remember me as the excitable and emotional man on the sideline. They saw me run up to players, practically nose to nose, and make some pointeither with joy or disappointmentand do it with emphasis. The more animated I was, the more jut there was to my jaw. It became a bit of a hallmark. Many times, older ladies approached me in Greater Pittsburgh grocery stores to deliver a message: They liked it when the TV cameras caught me yelling.