BILL COWHER

Bill Cowher was born on May 8, 1957 in Pittsburgh.  He grew up in the Crafton area and attended North Carolina State University.  This is where he met his wife, Kaye, and married her on August 13, 1977.

After college, he was drafted in 1981 and played for the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles returning punts and as a cornerback.  He had 12 sacks in his career, and even broke Titan’s Head Coach, Jeff Fisher’s leg!  Cowher spent three years in the NFL – all with the Eagles.  He retired from playing in 1984 and decided he wanted to get involved in coaching. 

In 1985, Cowher began his coaching career with the Cleveland Browns as a Special Teams’ Coach.  He held this position through the 1985 and 1986 seasons, and then served as their Secondary Coach.  However, at the end of the ’86 season, Cowher joined the Kansas City Chiefs’ coaching staff and served as the Defensive and Linebacker Coach.  He held these positions until 1992.

When Steeler Coach, Chuck Noll, announced his retirement, Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, hired the 34-year-old Bill Cowher.  In 1992, Cowher’s first year as Head Coach, the team finished with a record of 11- 5 and lost in the first round of the Play-offs.  In 1993, the team earned the final wild card game but ended up losing it.  In 1994, Cowher’s team made it to the AFC Championship where they suffered a disappointing loss l7 – 13 to San Diego.  In 1995, Bill Cowher became the youngest coach to lead his team to the Super Bowl.  Unfortunately, they lost Super Bowl XXX to Dallas with a score of 27 – 17.  In 1996, the Steelers lost in the Divisional Play-off game, and in 1997, they lost in the AFC Championship.  Sadly, in 1998, 1999, and 2000, the Steelers had losing records and missed advancing to any play-off games.  However, in 2001, they lost in the AFC Championship Game again, and lost again in the play-offs the following year as well as missing the play-offs in 2003.

Bill Cowher, as Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has had 10 winning seasons out of 13.  The only thing that is missing is a Super Bowl victory for Coach Bill Cowher.