There are very few sports figures more beloved in the city of Pittsburgh than former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher. Growing up in Crafton, he lived out his dream of coaching his hometown team and adding a fifth Lombardi to the Steelers’ trophy case. The Hall of Fame coach stopped by practice today, per 93.7 The Fan on X.
Watch below as Cowher can be seen hugging and talking to Mike Tomlin, T.J. Watt, Arthur Smith, Najee Harris and Danny Smith.
“331 wins meeting at Steelers practice, plus a few other hellos,” 93.7 The Fan tweeted.
Mike Tomlin is currently in sole possession of 11th place for all-time wins by an NFL head coach with 182. Bill Cowher is in 25th with 149. Though Tomlin gets most of the credit here, the two coaches just combined to tie the NFL record for consecutive seasons without a losing record with 21. The last 18 of those were with Tomlin, but Cowher kicked it off with three before he retired and Tomlin was brought into the organization. So long as they don’t have a big drop-off next year, they will beat Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys’ all-time record.
Cowher retired following the 2006 NFL season to spend more time with his family after his late wife. Kaye Cowher, was diagnosed with skin cancer. He remains involved in the football world as a studio analyst on CBS Sports’ gameday shows. Despite multiple teams trying to lure him out of retirement over the years, Cowher made it clear he would never coach for a team that isn’t the Steelers.
The Steelers will induct their Hall of Honor class this weekend and honor inductees Sunday when they play the Cleveland Browns. All of the people being inducted were around during the Cowher era. Jason Gildon played for the team from 1994 to 2003. Casey Hampton was around from 2001 to 2012. Willie Parker was with the team from 2004 to 2009, and Dick LeBeau coached under Cowher (and then Tomlin) from 1992 to 1996 and then again from 2004 to 2014.
Maybe Cowher will end up presenting some of those guys on Sunday.
Hopefully Tomlin let Cowher make a call or two in the huddle at practice today for old-time’s sake like he did in the Hall of Fame game a few years ago.
