Bill Cowher could author a dissertation on leaving the NFL as an uber-successful coach and finding an equally successful second act in sports broadcasting. But if you ask him for a prediction about whether Bill Belichick will follow in his footsteps, Cowher says he expects to see the former New England Patriots coach on an NFL sideline next season.
“I think Bill will go back to coaching,” Cowher said on the “Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch” this week. “I really do. But I also think he’s getting more and more comfortable as a broadcaster. Bill and I go way back to 1989. I was offered a job to be a defensive back coach by (then Giants coach) Bill Parcells after doing an interview with Bill, who was then a coordinator. Parcells offered me the job but I ended up going with Marty Schottenheimer in Kansas City. Bill (Belichick) and I were both coordinators at the time and we would share information.”
“Then he goes to Cleveland and New England and I go to Pittsburgh. So we stopped being friends and now we’re adversaries. We don’t talk for 15 years.” Cowher continued. “Now he’s back on the other side and we talk and we’re friends. I think Bill’s got the bug. But he’s getting better and better as a broadcaster and he’s getting plenty of practice. He’s on every different platform! Practice is not a problem with Bill.”
Cowher talked about Belichick and multiple other topics as a guest on the podcast, which publishes Friday. He will be in Buffalo this Sunday as CBS decided to send its “The NFL Today” studio group to broadcast on-site at Highmark Stadium. CBS will air the mega-showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Kickoff is 4:25 p.m. ET.
Bill Belichick and Bill Cowher speak at midfield after the New England Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game in January 2002 (Photo: Stan Honda / AFP via Getty Images)
“The Chiefs are 9-0 and seven of those nine games have been one-score games,” Cowher said. “They’ve been winning on the edge but that’s what good football teams do. These two quarterbacks are first-ballot Hall of Famers, I love these two coaches. Two really good teams. We have another big game on CBS this week — Pittsburgh and Baltimore. These are the four best teams in the AFC. You could you could make a case for each one of them.”
One bit of broadcast news from Cowher came from the podcast. He confirmed that he will be back at CBS for the 2025 season. Cowher was one of the CBS NFL studio staffers whose contract was up in 2024.
“I’ll be here next year too, not to go any further into details,” Cowher said. “We all finished last year not knowing exactly what the next year was going to be. There was a Super Bowl run for us (and) we were trying to embrace the moment. But I think all of us knew that at some point there’s going to be some change. A lot of the contracts were up. We really didn’t talk about it.”
“CBS has been a lot like Pittsburgh,” said Cowher, who coached the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1992 to 2006. “There’s core values. They hold people accountable. It’s very transparent, there’s a lot of collaboration, very family-like much like it was in Pittsburgh. I’ve never been one to chase the compensation. I wanted to chase the appreciation. As long as you appreciate me, the other part of it will never be a problem with me. I love the game and I love this platform. … I have many colleagues that have come and gone, and I know one day I will be asked not to come back.
“I understand those decisions because I made those same decisions with players. I made the same decisions with coaches. I had to make change sometimes just for the sake of change. So I get it. I know someday they may probably want to go another direction. If that’s the case, that’s fine. As long as you appreciate what I do and you think I bring value to what you’re wanting to portray, I’m happy to be here.”
Required reading
(Top photo of Bill Belichick: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
