When the Giants cleaned house earlier this month, a name that had long been linked to the coaching job quickly emerged as a possibility. It’s officially an impossibility.
Via Justin Terranova of the New York Post, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher says he won’t be the next coach of the Giants.
“No, it’s not even about a team, it’s about lifestyle,” Cowher said. “Coaching is always going to be a great challenge and every building dynamic is different. I had the best job in football and I was able to step away and transition from it to a next phase of life, which, quite frankly, I am very, very comfortable with. I am in a very good place.”
Former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis, who correctly said at the outset of the 2006 that it would be Cowher’s last in Pittsburgh, has previously hinted that Cowher could return to coaching with the Giants. Eleven years later, however, it sounds like Cowher isn’t willing to throw his life into upheaval.
“I have a platform to talk about the game I love and at the same time I have more balance in my life than I’ve ever had before,” Cowher said. “There’s always going to be a tough time of year when coaching changes take place at the end of the season. It’s a tough profession, not a very stable one. When one person leaves it opens opportunities for some other young coaches and there are some other young coaches out there. We’ve seen it can turn around quickly with the right kind of leadership and a few key players.”
The other reality is that the market for high-end coaches stopped increasing at the rate that it had been during Cowher’s final few years in the game. Teams often go younger in part because younger is cheaper than what it would take to lure a lion like Cowher back to the sideline.
Of course, there’s likely a number that could get Cowher’s attention. But no team seems to be willing to go that high, in part because every team seems to be adhering to an unspoken ceiling on what coaches not named Bill Belichick will be paid.
