Bill Cowher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bill Cowher | |
|---|---|
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| Date of birth | May 8, 1957 |
| Place of birth | Crafton, Pennsylvania |
| Position(s) | Head Coach Linebacker |
| College | North Carolina State University |
| Awards | 1992 AP NFL Coach of the Year 1992 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year 2004 Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year |
| Career Record | 153-91-1 |
| Super Bowl Wins |
Super Bowl XL |
| Championships Won |
1995, 2005 AFC Championship |
| Playing Stats | DatabaseFootball |
| Coaching Stats | Pro Football Reference |
| Coaching Stats | DatabaseFootball |
| Team(s) as a player | |
| 1979 1980-1982 1983-1984 |
Philadelphia Eagles Cleveland Browns Philadelphia Eagles |
| Team(s) as a coach/administrator | |
| 1985-1986 1987-1988 |
Cleveland Browns (Spec. Tms.) Cleveland Browns (Secondary) Kansas City Chiefs (Def. Coord.) Pittsburgh Steelers (Head Coach) |
William Laird "Bill" Cowher, (born May 8, 1957 in Crafton, Pennsylvania) is an American football coach, manager and former player. As of 2006, he has the longest-running tenure as head coach of any active coach in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XL under his direction.
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[edit] Early life
Cowher excelled in football, basketball, and track for Carlynton High in Crafton, a suburb of Pittsburgh. At North Carolina State University, Cowher was a starting linebacker, team captain, and team MVP in his senior year. He graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in education.
[edit] Pro career
He began his NFL career as a player. He was a free-agent linebacker with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1979, and then signed with the Cleveland Browns the following year. Cowher played three seasons (1980-82) in Cleveland before being traded back to the Eagles, where he played two more years (1983-84).
[edit] Coaching career
Cowher began his coaching career in 1985 at age 28 under Marty Schottenheimer with the Browns. He was the Browns' special teams coach in 1985-86 and secondary coach in 1987-88 before following Schottenheimer to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1989 as defensive coordinator.
He became the fifteenth head coach in Steelers history when he replaced Chuck Noll on January 21, 1992 – but only the second head coach since the NFL merger in 1970. Under Cowher, the Steelers showed an immediate improvement from the disappointing 7-9 season the year before, going 11-5 and earning home field advantage in the AFC after the Steelers had missed the playoffs six times out of the previous seven years. In 1995, at age 38, he became the youngest coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl. Cowher is only the second coach in NFL history to lead his team to the playoffs in each of his first six seasons as head coach, joining Pro Football Hall of Fame member Paul Brown. In Cowher’s 14 seasons, the Steelers have captured eight division titles, earned ten postseason playoff berths, played in 25 playoff games, advanced to six AFC Championship games and made two Super Bowl appearances. He is one of only six coaches in NFL history to claim at least seven division titles. It has become an article of faith among NFL pundits that the Steelers do not have a bad team two years in a row – they have never lost 10 or more games in consecutive years since the 1970 NFL merger. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have the best record of any team in the National Football League since Cowher was hired as head coach. As of the end of the 2005 season, Cowher has boasted a 106-1-1 record when his Steelers are up by 11 or more points at any moment in a game. On February 5th, 2006, Cowher's Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XL by defeating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, giving Cowher his first Super Bowl ring. During Cowher's 2006 season, there has been talk about Cowher leaving The Steelers. On November 28, 2006, at his weekly press conference, he stated that he was not interested in becoming the head coach of the football team at his alma mater, North Carolina State University. This position became vacant when the university fired Chuck Amato on November 26.
[edit] Family
Bill Cowher's wife, Kaye, also a North Carolina State University graduate, played professional basketball for the New York Stars of the (now defunct) Women's Pro Basketball League with her twin sister Faye. Kaye is featured in the book Mad Seasons: The Story of the First Women's Professional Basketball League, 1978-1981, by Karra Porter (University of Nebraska Press, 2006). Bill and Kaye have three children. Two, Meagan and Lauren, currently play basketball at Princeton University. The Cowher family lives in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania and Raleigh, North Carolina.
[edit] Endorsements
Cowher is under an exclusive autograph contract with the Mounted Memories company of Florida. Cowher was also on the cover of EA Sports' 2006 video game, NFL Head Coach.
[edit] Career record
| Franchise | Season | Wins | Losses | Ties | Postseason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1992 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0-1 record (Lost to Buffalo Bills) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1993 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0-1 record (Lost to Kansas City Chiefs) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1994 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 1-1 record (Beat Cleveland Browns, Lost to San Diego Chargers) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1995 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 2-1 record (Beat Buffalo Bills, Beat Indianapolis Colts, Lost to Dallas Cowboys - SB XXX) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1996 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1-1 record (Beat Indianapolis Colts, Lost to New England Patriots) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1997 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 1-1 record (Beat New England Patriots, Lost to Denver Broncos) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1998 | 7 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 1999 | 6 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2000 | 9 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2001 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 1-1 record (Beat Baltimore Ravens, Lost to New England Patriots) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2002 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1-1 record (Beat Cleveland Browns, Lost to Tennessee Titans) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2003 | 6 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2004 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1-1 record (Beat New York Jets, Lost to New England Patriots) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2005 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 4-0 record (Beat Cincinnati Bengals, Beat Indianapolis Colts, Beat Denver Broncos, Beat Seattle Seahawks - SB XL) | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2006 | 6 | 7 | 0 |
[edit] External links
- Coaching Stats at profootballreference.com
- LB/Playing Stats at databasefootball.com
- Coaching Stats at databasefootball.com
| Preceded by: Chuck Noll |
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coaches 1992–present |
Succeeded by: Current coach |
| Pittsburgh Pirates/Steelers Head Coaches |
|---|
| Douds • DiMelio • Bach • McNally • Kiesling • Bell • Donelli • Kiesling • Leonard • Sutherland • Michelosen • Bach • Kiesling • Parker • Nixon • Austin • Noll • Cowher |
| Current National Football League head coaches |
|---|
| Belichick • Billick • Childress • Coughlin • Cowher • Crennel • Del Rio • Dungy • Edwards • Fisher • Fox • Gibbs • Green • Gruden • Holmgren • Jauron • Kubiak • Lewis • Linehan • Mangini • McCarthy • Marinelli • Mora • Nolan • Parcells • Payton • Reid • Saban • Schottenheimer • Shanahan • Shell • Smith |
