Bill Cowher is Pittsburgh’s guy. Born in Crafton, head coach of the Steelers, brought home one for the thumb. If you’re in Western Pa., you love the dude. The success. The personality. The chin.
But that Hollywood-type story almost didn’t happen. Had the Cleveland Browns not hired Bill Belichick in 1991 to be their next head coach, it’s possible Cowher would’ve been their guy. Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show to promote his upcoming documentary, Cowher said he had a last-minute interview with the Browns for their head coaching gig in 1991. Cowher, who had coached in Cleveland throughout the 80s, still had strong ties to the organization and would’ve been a logical selection.
“The year before I went to Pittsburgh, I did have an interview with the Cleveland Browns at the last minute,” Cowher told Eisen. “The year that Bill Belichick got it.”
Belichick was the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, fresh off a Super Bowl win, while Cowher was in Kansas City as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator. Cowher said he and Belichick were close throughout those years to the point where Belichick expressed interest in hiring Cowher as the Giants’ defensive backs coach. Cowher declined, opting to head to Kansas City with Marty Schottenheimer, the Browns’ head coach in the mid-to-late 80s.
After Schottenheimer became the Chiefs’ head coach for the 1989 season, the Browns hired another Pittsburgh native in Bud Carson, the Steelers’ DC during the Steel Curtain era who developed the Cover 2 defense and helped with the creation of the Stunt 4-3 with a “tilted nose,” though DL Coach George Perles deserves much of that credit. Carson’s time in Cleveland quickly ended after a promising start. The Browns went 9-6-1 in 1989, blowing out the Steelers 51-0 in one of Pittsburgh’s worst-ever losses, and made it to the AFC Championship Game before falling to John Elway’s Broncos. But they tanked in 1990, getting off to a 2-7 start before Carson was fired and replaced by Jim Shofner as the Browns finished 3-13.
With the job open again in 1991, Cowher and Belichick were viable candidates. As outlined in this 1991 UPI article, Belichick flew in to interview on a Thursday with Cowher sitting down with ownership on Friday.
“Kansas City defensive coordinator Bill Cowher will be interviewed Friday and Saturday, according to the Plain Dealer. Cowher is a former Browns player and assistant who went to the Chiefs along with former Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer in 1989.
Cowher is considered an outstanding head coaching prospect, but the only drawback is that he is just 33.
‘I’m excited about the opportunity to sit down and talk with them,’ Cowher said of meeting with the Browns. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.'”
Ultimately, Belichick was the team’s chosen candidate. His success in Cleveland was underwhelming, a losing record in four of his five seasons there, though he led the team to an 11-5 record in 1994 before losing to the Cowher’s Steelers in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs. Both coaches turned out just fine on the paths their football careers led. Cowher right at home in Pittsburgh, Belichick creating a dynasty in New England and still coaching to this day (Cowher told Eisen that Belichick not-so-secretly wants to break Don Shula’s all-time wins record; he’s currently 29 shy).
For Cowher, 1991 wasn’t the last time the Browns would come calling. Though not discussed Thursday with Eisen, the team reached out to Cowher about a job for the 2009 season, two years after stepping down from the Steelers. He admitted he never came close to accepting and ultimately never coached again, serving as an NFL analyst for CBS Sports, a job he holds today.
