The Pittsburgh Steelers' long-time beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ron Cook, announced his retirement on Monday. The Steelers media has lost Ed Bouchette to retirement and Stan Savran to cancer over the last year. It is only natural that the voices who have helped define Steeler Nation move on. It doesn't mean we are happy about it; it just means we are all getting old. Cook has marked the time and shaped the opinions of generations of fans.
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Steelers beat writer and former host of The Ben Roethlisberger radio show announces his retirement.
After announcing that he was retiring and heading for sunny Florida, Joe Starkey and Bob Pompeani introduced multiple guest callers. Cook received an outpouring of well-wishers during the Cook & Joe Show on 93.7 The Fan. One of the biggest surprises was a call from a future Hall of Fame signal-caller and former cohost with Cook of The Ben Roethlisberger Show.
AP
Ben Roethlisberger and Ron Cook spent seven years together on The Ben Roethlisberger Show.
Ben Roethlisberger and Cook worked together for seven years during the 20-minute program that generated a lot of national attention during his playing days. Pompeani brought the two-time Super Bowl champion on the air and joked that it was an impromptu episode of the nostalgic This Is Your Life program that aired from 1950 to 1987. He did not introduce Roethlisberger by name in a nod to the legendary program.
“Long-time caller, first-time listener,” Roethlisberger joked. “Big fan of the show, not going to be the same without Ron, no offense Starkey or Bob Pompeani. Without Ron, it's just not going to be the same.”
“How are you, Ben,” Starkey laughed. “I didn’t recognize your voice at first.”
Roethlisberger and Cook stopped working together in 2019, and the Steelers' all-time passing leader has rarely appeared since. Roethlisberger retired in 2021 and limited his regular appearances to comment on Steelers Football, mostly to the Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger podcast on YouTube. Cook asked his former cohost if he recommended retirement and if he would consider a return to the Steelers in a coaching capacity for the franchise.
“My son, Benjamin asks me all the time, would you consider it? I was like, buddy, do you want to keep seeing me, or do you never want to see me again? I think they made a good decision by not going with me.”
Pittsburgh recently hired the former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to serve as the offensive coordinator for the 2024 season. It should quell the popular sentiment that continues to occupy Steeler Nation. Many on social media and multiple callers to various local radio programs have suggested that Roethlisberger return to work with Kenny Pickett and save the Steelers offense since his retirement.
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The fan outcry for Roethlisberger to return as the offensive coordinator reached a fever pitch during Matt Canada’s tenure. For his part, the now-retired quarterback has repeatedly rebuffed any calls for him to become an offensive coordinator in the NFL. He did soften a bit this season and confessed he might be open to a high school quarterback coach position, but that seems tied to his son Benjamin Roethlisberger's budding football career.
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Steelers franchise QB's Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger will go down as two of the best to ever play the game of football.
Roethlisberger's legendary skill for improvising may not lend itself to becoming a successful coordinator in professional football, but it would be really fun to watch him try. The days of quarterbacks like Terry Bradshaw calling every play on the field are long gone. Roethlisberger is probably the closest a modern quarterback is going to get in this era of passing game coordinators and quality control assistant coaches. Incidentally, the Steelers have never employed either one of those assistant coach positions.
Cook recalled after Roethlisberger said goodbye, what a coup for 93.7 The Fan it was for him to agree to do a weekly show on the station. It was a risk that was not well received in the city, as Cook recalled.
"Seven years we did that show, and I really think it brought a lot of credibility to the station," Cook remembered. "He took some crap for coming to us cause we're not the flagship station. They asked him why did you go on the on the fan. He goes Ron is the only one who asked me."
All things eventually end, but with the retirement of Cook, it is one more link to the Steelers of our youth that is gone. It is inevitable that a new voice will rise from one of the current crop of writers from the Post-Gazette, but in the endless modern world where everyone has a podcast, it isn't quite the same. Somehow it seems we have lost something by gaining everything. It's not better, and it is not exactly worse, but it is different.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you sad to see Cook leave and Roethlisberger confirm coaching is not in the cards for him? Please comment below or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbasq.
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