Bill Cowher | Pittsburgh Steelers - Steelers.com Skip to main content

Bill Cowher | Pittsburgh Steelers - Steelers.com

person-header_Cowher_Bill
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PERSONAL INFORMATION
Position Head Coach
College North Carolina State
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CAREER HISTORY
1980 & 1982 Linebacker, Cleveland Brown
1983 - 1984 Linebacker, Philadelphia Eagles
1985 - 1986 Special teams coach, Cleveland Browns
1987 - 1988 Defensive backs coach, Cleveland Browns
1989 - 1991 Defensive coordinator, Kansas City Chiefs
1992 - 2006 Head coach, Pittsburgh Steelers
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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Super Bowl XL
Hall of Honor 2019
Hall of Fame 2020

Bill Cowher was inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honor as a member of the Class of 2019. Cowher is also a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

On Jan. 21, 1992, Bill Cowher became the 15th coach in Steelers history when he was hired to replace Chuck Noll as the second man to hold that job since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Dan Rooney's search for Noll's successor came down to two finalists, but he selected Cowher over Dave Wannstedt, a decision that yielded immediate dividends. In Cowher's rookie season as coach, he took what had been a talented team that finished a disappointing 7-9 in 1991 and turned it into an 11-5 AFC Central Division champion that entered those playoffs as the AFC's No. 1 seed. In Cowher's 15 seasons as coach, the Steelers won eight division titles, made the playoffs 10 times during which they participated in 21 playoff games. Those 21 playoff games included six appearances in AFC Championship Games and two trips to the Super Bowl, in which the Steelers were 1-1. Cowher finished his career as one of only six coaches in NFL history with at least seven division titles, and he joined Paul Brown as the only coaches in history to take their teams to the playoffs in each of their first six years as coach.