Bill Cowher happy traveling and working at CBS instead of coaching

Despite being out of the coaching business the last nine years, Bill Cowher has received multiple offers to join other teams as a head coach. But the combination of his role as a CBS analyst for "The NFL Today" and his lifestyle make it less likely he'd come back to the sidelines any time soon.

If ever.

"I've been blessed to have had opportunities to come back pretty much every year, but I really, really love working at CBS," Cowher said. "It starts at the top with Les Moonves and Sean McManus. I've been here for nine years. This is like a family. It reminds me a lot of the Pittsburgh Steelers, how that was run. I had the best job in football. I wanted to move on."

Cowher, 58, coached the Steelers for 15 years before retiring in 2006, a year after winning his only Super Bowl title. He has been working at CBS ever since.

"Fifteen years, I was 49 years old, and it was time," Cowher said. "I'm still part of the game, but I also love the freedom it gives me in the offseason, to be able to travel and do things I never did before as a head coach. I don't have the [scouting] combine, I don't have the draft, I don't have OTAs, I don't have training camp. I start up next month.

"In the meantime, I've been able to spend a lot of time with my children, a lot of time personally traveling and it's a great lifestyle that I wouldn't have if I was coaching," he said.

Asked if he got the right offer to return as a head coach, Cowher said, "I have never even gotten to offers. It's not about an offer. It's about the fact that I had the best job in football [with the Steelers] and I think right now, I have the best job in broadcasting. I love what I'm doing.

"The National Football League has been very good for me," he said. "I've been in the NFL since 1980 -- 35 straight years, as either a player, a coach, an assistant coach, a head coach and now the last nine years at CBS on 'The NFL Today.' I can't imagine not being a part of the NFL in some capacity, and I love this capacity because of the freedom it gives me."

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”