While I've never read that Art Rooney II or Bill Cowher has gone on record as saying they don't like each other - I'm starting to piece together a puzzle that says as much. While no single item points to this, many small items added together surely do. I read an article that pointed out that during Cowher's press conference, he thanked Dan Rooney and mentioned "The Chief", but did not thank Art Rooney II who has been running the team officially since 1993 while Dan remained Chairman. The same article also pointed out that Art did not show much love when he introduced Cowher at the conference - doing it very quickly. Remember, it was Art who mentioned - correctly - a few years ago that it was time for the Steelers to win another Championship. Was that a subtle way of telling Bill Cowher he couldn't hold the job forever without winning one? Was it Bill's way of telling Art to go "F himself" by resigning so soon after finally winning it all? I'm assuming Art had final say over Cowher's contract as team President. There are always going to be Cowher detractors, but the city has to be slanted in his (Cowher's) favor at least 80-20. I'm just not sure what all of this means. I read something this morning that is so subtle the article I read didn't even mention the possibility of the Art Rooney / Bill Cowher rift entering into it. Chan Gailey was added to the Steelers search for a head coach and had the recommendation of.....Bill Cowher. It is rumored that he gave no such support for Grimmy or The Whiz. So, after the Steelers interviewed Chan Gailey - they announced their shortlist for second interviews. Gailey was not on the list. Hmmmm. The second I read that, I bridged the stories together to come to the conclusion that maybe Art II used Gailey as a pawn in his chess match with Bill Cowher. It was another instance where he could take a little jab while remaining classy and not make anything public. It's just a theory. I'm not taking sides. I was a big fan of Bill Cowher. Like Still A Dog, I feel that he was too conservative at times in the second half of his career - but he did bring us a tremendous amount of success and respect in those 15 years.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Reading Between The Lines
While I've never read that Art Rooney II or Bill Cowher has gone on record as saying they don't like each other - I'm starting to piece together a puzzle that says as much. While no single item points to this, many small items added together surely do. I read an article that pointed out that during Cowher's press conference, he thanked Dan Rooney and mentioned "The Chief", but did not thank Art Rooney II who has been running the team officially since 1993 while Dan remained Chairman. The same article also pointed out that Art did not show much love when he introduced Cowher at the conference - doing it very quickly. Remember, it was Art who mentioned - correctly - a few years ago that it was time for the Steelers to win another Championship. Was that a subtle way of telling Bill Cowher he couldn't hold the job forever without winning one? Was it Bill's way of telling Art to go "F himself" by resigning so soon after finally winning it all? I'm assuming Art had final say over Cowher's contract as team President. There are always going to be Cowher detractors, but the city has to be slanted in his (Cowher's) favor at least 80-20. I'm just not sure what all of this means. I read something this morning that is so subtle the article I read didn't even mention the possibility of the Art Rooney / Bill Cowher rift entering into it. Chan Gailey was added to the Steelers search for a head coach and had the recommendation of.....Bill Cowher. It is rumored that he gave no such support for Grimmy or The Whiz. So, after the Steelers interviewed Chan Gailey - they announced their shortlist for second interviews. Gailey was not on the list. Hmmmm. The second I read that, I bridged the stories together to come to the conclusion that maybe Art II used Gailey as a pawn in his chess match with Bill Cowher. It was another instance where he could take a little jab while remaining classy and not make anything public. It's just a theory. I'm not taking sides. I was a big fan of Bill Cowher. Like Still A Dog, I feel that he was too conservative at times in the second half of his career - but he did bring us a tremendous amount of success and respect in those 15 years.
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3 comments:
I will cut through all the crap in this situation that I am capable of, here goes:
Fan is correct, Art II and Cowher don't like each other. They are like the two guys or girls in the office that seem to work well together but when you got one of them out at happy hour they just bitch about the incompetence of the other.
Art II set Bill's ass straight by saying the time to win is now. It damn sure was. In fact it was past time for Cowher to quit pissing away the talent the team had assembled and win another Super Bowl.
Bill's F**k You response was not by resigning. Instead it was by pretending to coach a Super Bowl Championship team and wasting yet another golden opportunity for the Steelers to get an unprecedented 6th Super Bowl trophy this year.
It is rumored that FG Bill did not endorse either Whiz or Grimm because he felt them both unqualified to fill his shoes. This is a likely possibility.
Bill further endorsed Chan Gay-ly because he knows Chan would be poison for the Steelers. Dude gave a game away this season to Notre Dame and then TWICE lost 18 point leads to West Virginia to lose the Gator Bowl. Plus he was fired from the Cowboys. Plus he lost the ACC Championship this year to freaking Wake Forest. Geez!!
To ArtII's credit he gave Gay-ly the courtesy of an interview. This is unbelieveable, interviewing the man who actually thought Kordell Stewart was capable of handling the reads in 4 and 5 WR sets!!! Or maybe it was that Cowher forced this upon Kordell & Chan?
Anyway, good riddance to Cowher. I hope he comes back to coach another team and we whip his sorry ass relentlessly every single time he coaches against the Steelers.
As for the coaching situation, I trust the Rooney's to do what they think is best. At this point I kinda would like to see Grimm get a shot to see what he can do. I have heard that if Grimm gets the job that the OC position would go to Bruce Arians and not Mark Whipple. I hope that is not true because I believe Whipple to be one of the sharpest dudes on an NFL staff and I'd like to keep him motivated to remain a Steeler.
Then again they might be waiting for the Bears season to end to get Ron Rivera. Maybe we should root for the Saints this weekend lest the suspense kill us all.
rumor also has it that whiz is taking whipple with him to die in the desert
If Whiz is smart he'll take Whipple but if Whipple is smart he won't go. At least I am praying against it. I could be wrong about this but I think Whipple is under contract for another year. Inasmuch as these coaching contracts might as well not exist at all the way coaches jump around, I don't suppose it means much.
If Whipple truly is "odd man out" in the Grimm scenario then I couldn't blame him for going to Arizona. The weather is better there anyway.
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