Joe Starkey
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Sculptors at the Pro Football Hall of Fame should probably get a head start on Bill Cowher's bust.
It might take them a decade or three just to finish the chin.
No matter what happens in the interim, Cowher, 49, is a mortal lock for Canton -- and not because he wore the most hideous sweater ever displayed at an NFL news conference Friday, when he announced his resignation after 15 memorable seasons as Steelers coach.
That's not a valentine to Cowher, who had a terrible final season and was far from perfect during his tenure here. It is merely a statement of fact.
How can they keep Cowher out of the Hall when Bud Grant and Marv Levy, with nary a Super Bowl title between them, are in?
Cowher will coach again. Be sure of that. We have not seen the last classic Cowher spittle shower. But even if he becomes the next Art Shell -- even if he never wins another game -- he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Look at the list of coaches Cowher passed in career playoff victories (12) as the Steelers swept to a Super Bowl victory last season. In alphabetical order: Bill Belichick, Tom Flores, Bud Grant, Mike Holmgren, Marv Levy, Vince Lombardi, John Madden, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves and George Seifert.
That included a signature victory when Cowher's Steelers beat the Colts in Indianapolis. You'll recall that was a Colts team many were ready to immortalize.
The men ahead of Cowher on the all-time playoff victory list could form a Mt. Rushmore of NFL coaches -- Tom Landry (20 playoff wins), Don Shula (19), Joe Gibbs (17) and Chuck Noll (16).
Pretty impressive stuff, though Cowher's close friend and mentor, San Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer, went overboard yesterday when he said, "(Cowher) certainly stands at the same level as Coach Noll."
They might be in the same neighborhood. They're not in the same house.
Cowher's career winning percentages of .619 overall and .623 in the regular season actually eclipse Noll's marks of .572 and .566, but Noll made a habit of winning Super Bowls, while Cowher made a habit of losing AFC Championship Games on home turf.
"You don't even try to compare yourself with a man like Chuck Noll, and I didn't come close to doing the things he did," Cowher said yesterday, the same day Noll turned 75. "No one will. He was one of a kind. You don't even put yourself in that shadow.
"I think it's important when you step into that chair, you have to do it your way. You have to be yourself."
Credit Cowher for meeting the immense challenge of replacing Noll. Sports history is littered with athletes and coaches who folded under the pressure of following a legend.
Schottenheimer can vouch for Cowher's steely will. It was Schottenheimer, then coach of the Cleveland Browns, who hired the 28-year-old Cowher to run his special teams in 1985 -- and who couldn't shake a determined Cowher when it came time to hire a defensive coordinator in Kansas City in 1989.
"I had a couple of other candidates, and he was just relentless in trying to convince me he was prepared to do that job," Schottenheimer said. "I eventually gave him the position, and he did a great, great job for us. The rest is history."
A storied history, at that. Cowher's replacement better be ready to hit the ground running. He'll be following not one Hall of Fame-caliber coach, but two.
Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com
No comments:
Post a Comment