When the pittsburgh steelers needed a clear uptick in quarterback play, the team took a swing on ben roethlisberger, the team took a shot on him in the 2004 nfl draft. Not everyone in the organization was in favour of picking him, but two super bowls later, it was the right move. But even though he came in as a rookie and led the team to a blazing 15-1 record, he may not have been the player he was without bill cowher’s hard work. Cowher treated roethlisberger not as a first-round pick at quarterback, but as another mediocre rookie who had to prove his worth.
On the alpha 5 method podcast, roethlisberger said, “he treated me like a crappy rookie.” “he’s admitted it, and we’ve discussed it.” He’s like, ‘ben, i could have treated you like the best thing since sliced bread and put you up there because you were winning games, or i could have treated you like i did, and i chose that route because i thought it was the right thing for you.’ It wasn’t like you were with coach tomlin. You were like, kind of buddies, you could go talk to him or whatever. I never went in the open door, as the old open door policy had it. I didn’t want to go in and talk to coach cowher, so i didn’t want to go in.
That was the last thing i wanted to do. cowher, a crafton, pennsylvania native who worked as the steelers head coach from 1992-2006, ended his coaching career with a 161-99-1 record. In 1992 (associated press and sporting news) and 2004, he guided the steelers to victory in super bowl xl and was named nfl coach of the year. His teams won the afc twice, reached six afc championships, won the afc central or north division eight times, and advanced to the playoffs ten times as head coach.
He was a member of the hall of fame’s centennial class, an extra large class to represent the nfl’s 100th season. The selection was made by a blue-ribbon jury made up of hall of fame selectors, inductees, coaches, football executives, and historians. His coaching, as he treated roethlisberger, is a clear indication of who he was and what a coach he was, and that is why he was able to get the most out of his players.
