After a thorough search in 1992, the Pittsburgh Steelers chose Bill Cowher to lead the Steelers forward after Chuck Noll’s retirement. Cowher made it to the NFL initially as an undrafted free agent in 1979 for the Philadelphia Eagles, but he did not make the team. He caught on with the Cleveland Browns in 1980 and played for the Kardiac Kid Browns until 1982 as a backup linebacker and special teams standout.
He was traded back to the Eagles in 1983 and in two seasons with the team, his biggest accomplishment was tackling future coaching rival Jeff Fisher and breaking his leg in the process. Fisher credited Cowher injuring him being the push he needed to become a coach.
(Photo via 247Sports)
Cowher took a coaching position under Marty Schottenheimer as the special teams coach in 1985 for the Browns, which was a significant pay cut because the Eagles wanted him back as a player. After four NFL seasons, he understood he didn’t have much of an NFL future as a player, but felt he could contribute as a coach. He stayed with the Browns until 1988 as a special teams coach and later a defensive backs coach. He followed Schottenheimer to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1989 as the defensive coordinator and nearly got the Cincinnati Bengals head coaching job in 1991 before earning the Steelers head coaching position in 1992.
Cowher’s coaching tree is robust compared to Chuck Noll. He coached the Steelers for 15 seasons and spawned seven direct branches over his career. Unlike Noll, he began creating opportunities for his staff early in his career, needing just three years to catapult one of his assistants into a head coaching opportunity. Cowher ultimately did not have the success of Noll as a head coach on the football field, particularly in the playoffs where he managed to go 12-9 with two Super Bowl appearances in his career. But his ability to develop his staff and get them ready for leadership positions is where he shined in comparison.
Dom Capers
Packers.com
Dom Capers took over the expansion Carolina Panthers as their first head coach after serving as the Steelers defensive coordinator for three seasons under Cowher. As the Steelers defensive coordinator, he watched helplessly as they gave up the lead late in the 4th quarter to one of the worst Super Bowl teams, the 1994 San Diego Chargers.
Capers was credited with developing the zone blitz scheme the Steelers would make famous under Cowher. He brought the scheme to Carolina and spent four years as the coach of the expansion franchise. He was the NFL Coach of the Year in 1996 after leading the Panthers in their second season to the NFC Championship game where they fell to Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, 30-13. He was let go by the Panthers in 1998.
He was given another opportunity by the 2002 Houston Texans who were hoping to catch the same lightning in a bottle success that Capers had with the expansion Carolina team. However, after four losing seasons, it was clear that he was not the man to build the Texans. He was let go after a 2-14 season in 2005 and has not received another offer to lead a franchise. He continued to be a successful coordinator until 2017 in the NFL.
Jim Haslett
TitanSized.com
Jim Haslett served as the Steelers defensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999. Despite two losing seasons out of three, the defense was stout, and the New Orleans Saints gave him an opportunity in 2000 to lead their franchise into the 21st century. Haslett started off with a bang going 10-6 and winning the 2000 Coach of the Year Award. It was his first and only playoff appearance as a head coach.
He coached the Saints for six seasons and was let go after his team fell to 3-13 in 2005. He was given a second opportunity in 2008 as the St. Louis Rams interim head coach, but after going 2-10, they moved on to look for a permanent solution.
Marvin Lewis
Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images
Marvin Lewis became the linebacker coach for Cowher in 1992. His four seasons with Pittsburgh under Cowher were productive and the Steelers had one of the best linebacking crews in the history of the team. Lewis left Pittsburgh to become the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator and led the 2000 Ravens who are widely considered one of the top defenses the NFL has ever seen.
In 2003, Lewis became the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals and stabilized an organization desperate for a positive influence on the sideline. Lewis coached the Bengals for 16 seasons which is the longest tenure by far in that organization’s history. He coached them to seven playoff appearances and won the 2009 Coach of the Year Award. He won four division titles during his tenure. Unfortunately, he inherited an unfortunate trait from his coaching tree grandfather Schottenheimer. Despite his regular season success, Lewis never won a playoff game. He was on the sideline for what finally seemed to be the Bengals breakthrough in 2015 against the Steelers. Vontaze Burfict famously melted down and Ben Roethlisberger marched down the field allowing Chris Boswell to kick the winning field goal.
Lewis held on for three more losing seasons and was let go after going 6-10 in 2018. His career record of 131-122-3 is impressive and though he is 63, may be the most overlooked candidate for a second chance at coaching in recent memory.
Mike Mularkey
(Joe Robbins / Getty Images)
Mike Mularkey was an offensive coordinator for Cowher during the 2001-03 seasons. His impressive work with Kordell Stewart and Tommy “Gun” Maddox earned him an opportunity with the Buffalo Bills in 2004. Mularkey led the Bills to a 9-7 record in his first season, but after going 5-11 in 2005, the team dumped him.
In 2012, he was given an opportunity to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars, but was fired after going 2-14.
In 2015, he took over as the interim head coach of the Tennessee Titans from fellow Cowher coaching tree member, Ken Whisenhunt. Despite going 2-7, he was brought back as the head coach in 2016. He went 9-7 in both seasons he coached the Titans and made his only playoff appearance in his final season as a head coach. Mularkey had DeMarco Murray and rookie Derrick Henry splitting time in the backfield and handed Andy Reid's Chiefs a shocking 22-21 comeback loss in the Wild Card Round before losing to the New England Patriots, 35-14 in the divisional round.
The team and Mularkey announced after the season they were parting as a mutual agreement.
Ken Whisenhunt
Photo via Otto Greule Jr
Whisenhunt served as Cowher’s offensive coordinator the last three seasons of his coaching career and was at the helm of Roethlisberger’s early career including the Super Bowl XL victory. Whisenhunt loved running trick plays with the versatile Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El and seemed to have the inside track to replace Cowher. It was thought it was between Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm, but the Steelers in true Rooney family fashion took the interview process seriously and decided to go with Mike Tomlin.
Whisenhunt took the Arizona Cardinals head coaching position in 2007 and after just one season, arrived in Super Bowl XLIII to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tomlin in both coach’s second season. Whisenhunt’s team fell behind early, but his halftime adjustments gave the Cardinals the lead late in the 4th quarter. Roethlisberger led a magical drive and found Santonio Holmes to bring the Steelers back and clinch the win.
Whisenhunt coached the Cardinals for six seasons and made the playoffs twice going 4-2. However, after three straight playoff misses, he was let go after a 5-11 season in 2012.
Whisenhunt was given a second head coaching opportunity with the Titans, but after going 3-20, he was dismissed after Week 8 of the 2015 season. He has not been given another head coaching opportunity.
Bruce Arians
(Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Bruce Arians was the wide receivers coach under Cowher for the final three seasons he was the head coach. He was then promoted to offensive coordinator under Tomlin. Arians coached with Cowher in Kansas City as an assistant in the late '80's and that is why he is on the Cowher coaching tree, not Tomlin. Arians gambling style, with the famous “no risk it, no biscuit” philosophy seemed destined to keep him a lifetime coordinator. However, fate intervened when he left the Steelers for the Indianapolis Colts.
Chuck Pagano, the head coach for the Colts, came down with leukemia and Arians coached the Andrew Luck-led Colts to a 9-3 record down the stretch and a date with the Ravens in the Wild Card Round -- which they lost, 24-9. The NFL credits those stats to Pagano, but his audition as a head coach was wildly successful. He took over the Cardinals in 2013 and started his career 34-14 with two playoff appearances and an appearance in the 2015 NFC Championship Game where the Panthers overwhelmed them. The Cardinals never really recovered from that drubbing and after two consecutive losing seasons, he was let go in 2017.
In 2019, he took over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and presided over Jameis Winston’s make or break season for Tampa. Winston led the team to a 7-9 finish gambling all along the way under Arians and gained the dubious honor of the first 30 touchdown, 30 interception quarterback in league history. Tampa Bay moved on from Winston and signed a prehistoric fossil to play quarterback off of the New England scrap heap. That quarterback was Tom Brady.
Brady lobbied for Rob Gronkowski who fit in well with Arians' free wheeling style, and Antonio Brown seemingly against Arians' wishes. He became the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl after going 13-4 in 2021. He watched Brown's meltdown in New York, and suffered a Divisional Round loss to the eventual champion, Los Angeles Rams. Brady and Arians had enough of each other, and he was 'promoted' to the front office.
Arians finished his career 80-48-1 with a 6-3 record in the playoffs and a 1-1 record in the Super Bowl, while winning Coach of the Year twice.
David Culley
Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images
The shortest branch on the Cowher coaching tree is David Culley who was the sacrificial lamb of the 2021 Texans. Culley was the wide receivers coach for the Steelers in the mid '90’s, despite being retired for 15 seasons. Cowher’s coaching tree had one final addition. He went 4-13 and frankly should have been considered for Coach of the Year with that roster. He was fired after one season.
Bill Cowher’s coaching tree is extensive and 4 of his 7 branches won a Coach of the Year Award during their career. Only 1 of the 7 failed to make the playoffs which was Culley, and he might have gotten the worst roster to work with in the last decade of the NFL.
Cowher was a fiery personality and his players loved him, but he did a tremendous job developing coaching talent. Cowher can take a lot of pride in the fact he far surpassed Noll in this area.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Is Cowher the better coach of coaches? Please comment below or on my Twitter @thebubbasq.
