Bill Cowher: "I Felt Like a Prisoner" as Steelers Head Coach

Article:

Nearly a decade after his final game as coach of the Steelers, Bill Cowher gave a very honest answer about why he decided to walk away from football.

In a very revealing article written by Rolling Stone...

LINK: http://pit.247sports.com/Bolt/Bill-Cowher-on-why-he-retired-I-felt-like-a-prisoner--40847451

 

Cowher would be insane to go back to coaching. The man has the perfect job. He sits around with friends and talks about football. He works very few hours in a week but I have no doubt gets paid very well. I'm sure he misses competing, but man, he literally has a dream job.

 

I get gas too after losses.

 

Think that sheds light on the whole who would jump at the chance to coach again after having been a head coach. Some just get burnt out.

 

I remember seeing Cowher in an interview once say that it was horrible to be the Steelers coach when we were losing. He said once that he was pumping gas and a fan came up totally irate about how bad the team was looking and Cowher said that he felt like he was literally gonna have to fistfight the guy and just kept telling him "Man I'm just as upset as you are!" That would be a crappy way to live. I can understand the fishbowl on a MUCH smaller scale but in a small town if you are a preacher most people know who you are and sometimes I dread going to Wal Mart and things like that just because I wanna get in and get out but down here going to Wal Mart is like a class and family reunion all mixed up in one. My wife purposely goes to ones off the beaten path just to maintain some anonymity. LOL! But I can't even imagine what it would be like to go EVERYwhere ALL the time and be recognized. I don't even WANT to imagine that! I love people and have "never met a stranger" as they say but sometimes you just wanna have a moment to yourself too. I don't necessarily blame Cowher for feeling that way.

 

The part I don't get is that he is still just as famous in Pittsburgh and with NFL fans. He must get recognized several times a day.

Now he is remembered as the coach who won a Super bowl though. The attention he gets would be overwhelmingly positive Id think.

Still... no way does he have anonymity... not with that chin haha.

 

Got to go with what blountforcetrauma said to get it. Now people see him and the reaction is positive for the most part. Even fans of other teams. It's just a celebrity status with football fans. No way would I want to be the coach who had to deal with the second guessing that gets heaped on them. Just think when he was coaching it was even simpler without all the twitter and 26 hour coverage.

I'd have guaranteed the Steelers would have been forced into Hard Knocks if he was still there. He's not suited to this new NFL anyway. He used the practices or lack of as carrots and sticks. I remember reading about him putting the team through extra padded/tackling after they laid a bad performance out there.

 

This article makes it seem like Cowher was playing the victim card. Read the Rolling Stones interview to get what he said in context and it comes across far differently IMO. He went through what all people go through who achieve that level of fame and decided to walk away. That's it.

I can fully understand not wanting to deal with the yinzer's that feel like throwing themselves off a bridge after a loss but he himself said he had the BEST job in the NFL. It was all about winning the big one for him and after he did that he he took the millions he made as a coach and transitioned.

What I read in that interview is a success story not what the spin doctor who wrote the linked article tried to spew.

 

I do get what BFT is saying. I live in a city 45 minutes from my GF's work so that she doesn't run into students and parents on a daily basis haha.

Yallact like there are only Steelers fans he has to deal with. I'm sure he still gets harassed by Ravens fans etc.

If I saw Bellichick I would say "Hey Bill, made out with your daughter lately?"

Being a TV personality isn't the best way to get out of the linelight! Ricky Williams quit the NFLand moved to Africa in his prime due to social anxiety! There are ways to aboid the spotlight haha and being on CBS every Sunday isn't one of them. Just saying.

 

Yeah I saw Ray Lewis at MNF a couple of years ago and I was like 5 or 6 feet away from him and yelled out "RAVENS SUCK!!!!!!!" and everybody started dying laughing. He didn't even react to it at all. I'm sure he gets that all the time from Steeler fans and also just good human beings in general. LOL!

 

This is why I do the majority of the grocery shopping. With my wife's job, it's nearly impossible for her to go out locally and not run into someone she knows who has a million questions. Church? Fugghetaboutit.

 

After a game once we were walking to our cars past the players lot and Ryan Clark was signing autographs and talking to the fans. Jokingly I said loudly to the guys I was with "Who is that? DeWayne Washington?" I know he heard me and I probably deserved to get knocked upside the head. But he just kept on doing his thing.

 

I can't grocery shop because my wife is an Extreme Couponer and would never let me go there and waste a ton of money on candy. LOL!

 

It was the right thing to do in that situation. Well played haha.

 

Now that is funny as hell. I read that quote a number of times and wondered exactly what it meant. He would get gas at a gas station at dark to avoid meeting up with fans lol

 

I am much like Cowher. When I go out people always want to talk to me. Because I live in a small town and know alot of people. They usually do not want to talk to me about football though.. It's always about my hot girlfriend ... ya know

 

I thought this was going to be an article about how he was forced to pick Roethlisberger in the draft...

 

If Cowher had had Ben instead of Kordell, Maddox et al, he may have matched Noll in Super Bowl wins.

 

HAHA.. Yeah lets talk about how Cowher never wanted to draft Ben..

 

You and me both.. I thought the same thing. He is as well known now as he was then.. I think he really meant .. I just want to get out of the Burgh and coaching entirely because as fans we tend to blame the wins and losses on coaching staff . Now all he has to do is yuk it up and talk football once a week and nobody is going to stalk him lol

 

Yeah...uhhh... no one will stalk him...totally...that's...totally right...only a crazy person would do that...hehehehe....don't mind me folks...nothing to see here...

 

It's not that small. 1000 times bigger than mine

 

Wow, I understand what Cowher is saying.The title is misleading

 

True Shaner. Quinte West is a pretty good size. You around the Kingston area right? Napanee perhaps

 

He was making 5 million a year, and he let some sour fans get to him, come on Bill, you have tougher skin than that to know it comes with the territory...........