I decided to go look through some old Pittsburgh Post-Gazette articles during the first set of down years for him. This is from late 2000. It is priceless.
Quote:
It first became obvious Bill Cowher was a bad guy to work for when he fired Ron Erhardt after the 1995 season. What kind of monster fires his offensive coordinator after a Super Bowl year? [editors note: Bring back Chico!!!1!]
But at least Cowher had his reasons for that firing, unfair as it was. Erhardt was almost 65 and was thinking of retirement in a year or two. He couldn't make a long-term commitment to the Steelers. Chan Gailey, their wide receivers coach at the time, was a hot coaching prospect and Cowher didn't want to lose him. So he made Gailey the offensive coordinator and pushed out Erhardt.
If there's any justice in the world, Cowher will work for someone just as heartless when he gets older.
That brings us to the latest Cowher firing, Kevin Gilbride. It might not be as cruel as the Erhardt firing. But it makes less sense.
Actually, that's not true.
The firing has Kordell Stewart's name written all over it.
Once Cowher and the Steelers decided to bring back Stewart as their quarterback next season, Gilbride's job was in jeopardy. Who knows if Stewart asked Cowher to fire Gilbride? Or if Cowher fired Gilbride merely to appease Stewart, who still seethes at Cowher about being used as a wide receiver after he was benched as the quarterback in 1999? What's certain is that Stewart and Gilbride did not have a good relationship. Gilbride worked better with Mike Tomczak in 1999. He was much more successful with him, too. He worked better this season with Kent Graham. It was pretty clear he didn't think Stewart was smart enough to read coverages or accurate enough as a passer to be a big-time quarterback. At the very least, he didn't think Stewart was disciplined enough to make the commitment it takes to be a big-time quarterback.
I don't know about you, but I couldn't agree more with Gilbride.
Stewart was no fan of Gilbride personally. But more than that, he didn't think Gilbride's system took advantage of his skills, especially his mobility. Others in the organization -- Cowher, obviously, and perhaps even Dan Rooney and his son, Art -- didn't think so, either.
Of course, no one with the Steelers ever blames Stewart for these problems. He also didn't get along with offensive coordinator Ray Sherman during the 1998 season. Sherman had replaced Gailey, who left to become head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Cowher fired Sherman after only that one year on his staff.
But back to Gilbride and Stewart. Give them credit for working through their difficulties. By the end of the season, Stewart was playing decent football. In comparison to his inept play in 1998 and ' 99, he was playing great football. His resurgence -- despite having nondescript receivers after the failures of No. 1 picks Troy Edwards and Plaxico Burress -- was the talk of the NFL. It gave the Steelers some hope for next season.
"Our passing game has come a long way," Jerome Bettis said last week before the final game against San Diego. "If we do make the playoffs, that will give us a chance to win."
"Kordell is playing with so much more confidence," Hines Ward said. "This is his second year in Gilbride's system. I think he's just feeling a lot more comfortable with everything."
That sounds almost laughable now, doesn't it?
There's no such thing as continuity when Cowher is doing the hiring and firing.
Stewart will play for his fourth offensive coordinator in five seasons next year. Maybe Cowher will give the job to receivers coach Bob Bratkowski or tight ends coach Mike Mularkey. That, at least, would give Stewart someone he knows and someone who knows him. Or maybe Cowher will go outside for Gilbride's replacement. If he does, he won't have any trouble finding a top coach. It's not that anyone wants to work for him. No one does. The Gilbride firing will only add to his well-known, league-wide reputation as an evil boss. It's just that there always are going to be good coaches on the rebound, looking for work and a chance to redeem themselves. Coaches such as Norv Turner, Bruce Coslet and Paul Hackett come to mind.
That's the only reason Gilbride, who had been fired as the San Diego Chargers' head coach, ignored all the warnings about Cowher and came to Pittsburgh.
He leaves knowing he resurrected his career even if Cowher and the Steelers were too blind -- or too blindly loyal to Stewart -- to see it.
LOL. OK, maybe there are some meatballs in Pittsburgh after all. My point isn't that Cowher is a bad coach. My point is that I could do this same thing for every single head coach in the NFL and get the exact same articles. There's hundreds of them. Do you have any idea how badly Cowher was crucified after the coin toss game? (Cowher is such a bad coach that his players can't even call the coin toss right, etc.)
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
