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Done in Steel City Donahoe quits two days after Cowher said he'll return
Posted: Friday January 14, 2000 08:19 PM
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pittsburgh Steelers director of football operations Tom Donahoe resigned under pressure Friday, after the Steelers were forced to choose between keeping him or coach Bill Cowher. Donahoe, general manager except in name for the last 10 years, has had growing differences with Cowher over the years. He quit only two days after the Steelers announced Cowher was staying. Neither Cowher nor Donahoe felt they could work together any longer, and each offered to resign. When the Steelers retained Cowher, Donahoe went ahead with the resignation he initially offered shortly after the season ended. "We said in our discussions, this isn't working, we've got to do something about it," Steelers vice president Art Rooney II said. "Both men said, `If I'm the problem, I'll resign.' ... They both felt it was a problem, and the only solution was for one of them to leave, and in the end we felt that way, too." Asked if the Steelers finally were forced to choose between the two, Art Rooney II said, "In some ways, you could say we looked at it that way." Steelers president Dan Rooney tried to patch up the relationship between Donahoe and Cowher following a 6-10 season, but became convinced early on there wasn't a solution. "We looked at shuffling some things around and bringing somebody else in to serve as a go-between, but we came to the conclusion that was putting a Band-Aid on something we felt wouldn't work," Art Rooney II said. "So we felt we had to go in this direction." The tension between Cowher and Donahoe had increased to the point, Art Rooney II said, where "the organization could not function anymore." No matter, Donahoe's resignation was a stunning development for a franchise that probably has less turnover than any other in the NFL; the Steelers have had only two coaches in 31 years, for example. Donahoe was a Steelers ball boy as a youngster and has had a longstanding relationship with the Rooney family almost since birth. His grandfather, David L. Lawrence, was a former Pittsburgh mayor and governor of Pennsylvania and was one of Steelers founder Art Rooney's closest friends. Donahoe, a longtime Pittsburgh high school coach, joined the Steelers as a scout in 1986 and rapidly climbed in the organization, becoming director of football operations in 1991. His excellent drafts were greatly responsible for the Steelers making the playoffs for six consecutive seasons from 1992-97, and he swiped star running back Jerome Bettis from St. Louis for a mid-round draft pick in 1996. Donahoe, a lifelong Pittsburgh resident, turned down a lucrative offer from the Seattle Seahawks two years ago and was given a big pay raise and a 10-year contract. But his relationship with Cowher got only worse and so did the Steelers' record, as their inability to retain star free agents led them to go 13-19 the last two years and lose 15 of their last 21 games. Cowher and Donahoe disagreed this season over talent issues, with Donahoe saying the Steelers had no business losing at home to weak opponents such as Cleveland and Cincinnati. Cowher responded by saying he felt talent was an issue and needed to be addressed. Donahoe did not attend a hastily called news conference Friday night, but issued a short statement saying, "Change is often necessary. In this particular instance, the change involves me, which I believe will be positive not only for the organization, but for myself as well." Dan Rooney said the Steelers' front office won't change and a successor to Donahoe will be chosen as soon as possible. Cowher will not gain any additional say in talent acquisition matters. Until a successor is hired, Steelers front office staffers Dan Ferens and Mark Hart will oversee plans for the free agent signing period that begins Feb. 11. Rooney said Donahoe already has other job opportunities in the NFL. He could be in the running for the general manager's job at the expansion Houston franchise.
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