As Jack Del Rio, Todd Haley and Tony Sparano can tell you, the Christmas season is also firing season in the NFL. And with firing season comes speculation about new coaches, who are often old coaches, many of whom are now currently broadcasters. Like Bill Cowher.
Cowher's name is almost always the first one thrown about on fans' wishlists. He's a Super Bowl champion and the highly regarded ex-coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and has spent the last few years putzing around the CBS studios. Once upon a time, he said he'd probably coach again. There are good opportunities available now. Would The Chin be interested?
According to broadcast colleague Dan Marino, the answer is no.
"I would love to see him be the Dolphins' coach or if he wanted to coach again because that would be great for the NFL, but I don't think his mind-set is that he wants to coach again," Marino told The Finsiders.
"And he may change that over time now, but my feeling is that, you know, he's a pretty straightforward ... guy that tells the -- kind of -- the truth most of the time, I would say -- or no, all the time -- and he said on TV that he doesn't have any plans of coming back, and I believe him."
I don't find it at all difficult to believe that a guy like Bill Cowher would rather continue his work with CBS than go back to the sidelines. Coaching offers two things. First, it feeds the competitive beast which fuels most guys who ever get to that level. Secondly, it offers a lot of money.
But if a guy's competitive beast has become domesticated over the years, and he doesn't need the money, why would he choose the high-stress, no-sleep lifestyle over the cushy studio job? At CBS, he's got to show up once a week and spit out a few platitudes about working hard and playing as a team. That's it. That's all the job requires. That and a suit. And I imagine it pays pretty well, too.
Now, I'm not saying it's true that Bill Cowher won't coach anymore -- just that it's believable. Bill Cowher may well end up on someone's sideline next year. If Dan Marino's right, though, and he doesn't want to, I couldn't blame him.
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