Let me start off by saying that I am a big fan of Bill Cowher. I think he was a very good motivator and disciplinarian. I also think a great deal of his success was due to things out his control, like the drafting of players, a winning atmosphere and play-calling. This is not an anti-Bill Cowher post. This is an anti-San Diego media post.
The San Diego media is borderline retarded. They want Bill Cowher, the most successful unemployed Head Coach under the age of a thousand, to be the coach of the San Diego Chargers so badly that they will believe any crazy person on the street corner that starts yelling about him going to San Diego. This is exactly what has happened in the past few days, with "rumors" about Cowher wanting to come to San Diego popping up everywhere.
Here's where I stand on Cowher.
- Will he listen to an offer? If he's interested in returning to coaching, it behooves him to listen to all offers and pick the one he feels is best. Just like it makes sense for him to at least feign interest for any and all open positions to potentially start a bidding war for his services.
- Will he make the Chargers a Super Bowl contender? Not necessarily. Cowher made the Super Bowl twice in his 15 years in Pittsburgh (winning once), and his team has returned twice in the 5 years since he retired (winning once). That leads to me thinking that their success had more to do with the players and the system (most notable, Dick LeBeau's defense) than Bill Cowher.
- Who would he bring with him? This is the biggest question the Chargers have to ask Cowher if he's sitting in Dean Spanos' office asking for $7 million per year. He doesn't call offensive or defensive plays, so the success of those sides of the ball will have more to do with the coaches that want to work with Cowher than Bill himself.
