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Cowher's Pittsburgh future uncertain
Posted: Sunday November 28, 1999 01:53 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King spoke with CNN/SI anchor Bob Lorenz going into Sunday's Week 12 games: Bob Lorenz: The Steelers missed the playoffs last year, they're just .500 this season and now there are rumblings about the future of head coach Bill Cowher there. What are you hearing? Peter King: I've covered this league for 16 years and I know that where there's smoke, there may not be a bonfire, but there's a little something going on. And I do think there's some dissatisfaction on the part of Bill Cowher, stemming from the fact that he's uncertain whether he's ever going to be able to build a team here that can win a Super Bowl. The Steelers have lost an awful lot of free agents over the years and I think that's at the base of his frustration. Now, what will he do about this? Some sources cited Saturday in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette claimed that this is Cowher's last year coaching the Steelers. I talked to club owner Dan Rooney Saturday and he said, "Bill Cowher will coach this team in the year 2000" and he branded all the reports totally false. Now, if Cowher decided to leave, could he? Not really. If he decided to go to TV and not coach, that's one thing, but if he wanted to go to another team and coach, he's still got three years left on a contract that pays him $2 million a year. BL: Ryan Leaf's suspension is about to come to an end. What are the Chargers going to do with him? PK: At 8 a.m. Monday morning, Ryan Leaf will walk into Mike Riley's office, shake the coach's hand and resume his career in San Diego. Riley told me Saturday night that there is no question in his mind that he's going to try everything possible to get Ryan Leaf on the field during the last five weeks of the season. Why? A very simple reason. Leaf hasn't practiced since the first day of training camp; he hasn't played since last year. The Chargers want to make sure that he gets on the field, gets a few reps and a couple of games in before next year's training camp. BL: Last Sunday we spoke about Raiders coach Jon Gruden possibly winding up at LSU. Now, if that happens, you feel there could be a domino effect on the coaching front' PK: Despite all of LSU's denials, the school is definitely going to look at Gruden in the offseason for its head coaching opening. Now if Gruden goes, Al Davis is going to consider former Raiders coach Art Shell, now on the Falcons staff, with whom he has kept an open line of communication Shell is also a favored guy up in New England. If they Patriots make a coaching change after the year, Shell will be on their list, too BL: The Dolphins have a showdown next Sunday against the Colts. Given what happened on Thanksgiving Day, is Dan Marino going to be back in there? PK: Marino will definitely get the start next Sunday and after that, it's anybody's guess. Jimmy Johnson left for a little two-day respite in the Florida Keys and he was going to think about his quarterbacking options for the future. But he did tell his staff that Marino would get the start in that game. One other thing about Marino: the other day, after watching the Thanksgiving game, I talked to a coach of a team who plays Miami in the last month of the season and he said, "Can you believe Marino's arm? He's got nothing left." The last four or five games of this season are going to tell us exactly what Marino has left. BL: Noticeably absent from the Panthers is wide receiver Rae Carruth, who is out indefinitely, currently in jail with two other men, charged with attempted murder in the drive-by shooting of his pregnant girlfriend. What's the latest on that story? PK: On Friday they raised the bail to $3 million so that Carruth couldn't meet it -- he might be a potential flight risk. But as far as the Panthers go, this situation points out a continuing struggle with the team's first-round picks. Look at the guys they've picked in the first round since the franchise was founded: Kerry Collins, Tyrone Poole and Blake Brockermeyer in '95, Tim Biakabutuka in '96, Carruth in '97 and Jason Peter in '98. With the exception of Biakabutuka, all of them are certifiable busts. Consider also, that in the years 1999 and 2000, they don't have first-round picks because they stupidly gave them up to Washington for Sean Gilbert. BL: Steve Stenstrom gets the start again Sunday for the 49ers but neither he nor Jeff Garcia has really panned out. In fact, San Francisco has just one offensive touchdown in the last four games. Oh, to have Steve Young again, right? PK: No question about that. And in fact, 49ers general manager Bill Walsh asked Steve Young recently whether he wanted to play in the last couple of games of this season. From Walsh's point of view he's trying to say: "Hey, do you want to get back in the game, see if you still want to play, or do you want to make a graceful exit from the game?" But Young has not been cleared to play by doctors yet and there's no way he can step on the field. Young, however, definitely still wants to play in the year 2000.
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