Bill Cowher Speaker Biography

2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee, Super Bowl-Winning Head Coach, CBS NFL Analyst and Author

Whether it’s football, life, or a business, Bill Cowher believes that everyone should be instilled with three critical points. Everyone needs the right game plan, the right people and environment surrounding them, and the right approach to achieve all your goals. Cowher overcame adversity and many obstacles to win 161 games as he compiled the right game plan, molded the right players, surrounded himself with the right coaches, and had the attitude and mindset to envision victory every day he stepped on the field.

Analyst

In 2007, Cowher joined CBS Sports to bring his experience, knowledge and passion for the game as an analyst for the Network’s NFL studio show, THE NFL TODAY. He was also a participant on the fast-paced reality show, Fast Cars and Super Stars, where he impressed fans with his driving abilities.

Super Bowl

Bill Cowher led the Steelers to their first Super Bowl title in 26 years in 2005. He was the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL before stepping down following the 2006 season after 15 years with the Steelers. His 15 seasons with the Steelers ranks ninth in NFL history for longest head coaching service with one team. Cowher was only the team’s second head coach since 1969 after taking over for legendary head coach Chuck Noll on January 21, 1992, at the age of 34. In 1995, at age 38, he became the youngest head coach to lead his team to the Super Bowl when the Steelers played the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX.

NFL

Cowher’s Steelers teams earned 10 post-season berths, captured eight division titles, advanced to six AFC Championship games, made two Super Bowls appearances and won one Super Bowl title. He led the Steelers to post-season appearances in each of his first six seasons tying an NFL record originally set by Cleveland Browns legendary head coach Paul Brown. Cowher is one of only six coaches in NFL history to claim at least eight division titles. During his 15 seasons, the Steelers tied with New England for the league’s most division titles and posted the NFL’s best overall record in the regular season.

Records

Cowher ended his coaching career with an overall record of 161-99-1 (.619) including a 149-90-1 (.623) mark in the regular-season. His record with the team ranks only second to Noll’s overall (209-156-1; .572) and regular-season (193-148-1; .556) records. Cowher’s regular-season (.623) and overall (.619) winning percentages are the highest in Steelers history.

Early Career

Cowher played five years as a linebacker and special teams standout for the Cleveland Browns (1980-82) and the Philadelphia Eagles (1983-84). He began his coaching career as a special teams coach in 1985 under Marty Schottenheimer and followed him to Kansas City as the eventual defensive coordinator before moving to Pittsburgh as head coach.

Education

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cowher was born on May 8, 1957. He played linebacker for four years at North Carolina State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1979. Cowher and his wife, Kaye, have three daughters and reside in Raleigh, N.C.

Book

In Heart & Steel, which was co-authored by Michael Holley, Bill Cowher chronicles his improbable rise from a scrappy kid in Crafton, Pennsylvania—mere miles from Three Rivers Stadium—to an undersized college linebacker and NFL journeyman, before channeling that relentless grit into a breakout coaching career that culminated in leading his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers to Super Bowl XL victory. Through candid anecdotes of triumphs, gut-wrenching losses, and personal heartbreaks like the deaths of his wife and father, Cowher reveals how embracing resilience, family bonds, and unyielding work ethic forged not just a championship legacy, but a blueprint for thriving amid life’s toughest transitions.