It was hard enough that Bill Cowher was replacing a Steelers legend and one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Or that he was taking over a franchise with four Super Bowl trophies that had made the playoffs just once in the previous seven seasons.
As a rookie head coach, he had more immediate hurdles to overcome. Learning his players. Getting them to believe what he was preaching. And working with 10 members of his coaching staff with whom he had never worked before.
"Anytime there's change, there's resistance, and you're going to get that," Cowher said. "The thing you have to do is pick your battles. You can't walk in and be a dictator and say trust me. It takes time. You need to create a harmonious situation, and losing can make it difficult to do that."
The transition from Chuck Noll, architect of the Super Bowl dynasty of the 1970s, to Cowher was made easier when the Steelers went 11-5 and gained the No. 1 AFC playoff seed in 1992 under their rookie head coach.
While some of the other greatest head coaches in NFL history struggled in their first opportunity as an NFL head coach, Cowher enjoyed nearly unprecedented success. He became only the second coach in NFL history to make the postseason his first six years on the job _ Paul Brown was the other _ and went on to win eight division titles and make 10 playoff appearances in his 15 years with the Steelers.
"Winning gives you credibility when you're a first-time head coach," Cowher said. "You're trying to sell what your beliefs are and with each loss the challenge becomes greater. Sometimes when you lose, people tend to draw a line in the sand. When I came in, they were in the playoffs just one time in seven years. It wasn't a harmonious locker room."
Cowher was part of a rookie head-coaching class in 1992 that might be among the best in recent NFL history.
Not only did Cowher go 11-5 and gain the AFC's No. 1 seed, but Dennis Green in Minnesota and Bobby Ross in San Diego also posted division-winning 11-5 records. Mike Holmgren went 9-7 with the Green Bay Packers and, even though he didn't make the playoffs that season, the Packers went on to have a winning record in each of Holmgren's seven years in Green Bay.
Cincinnati's David Shula was the only one of the five rookie coaches in 1992 to have a losing record (5-11). He lasted 4 { seasons as the Bengals head coach after posting a 19-52 record and never winning more than seven games in a season.
Cowher (2005) and Holmgren (1996) went on to win a Super Bowl. Ross made it there in 1994 but lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Green took the Vikings to the NFC title game in 1998, but lost to the Atlanta Falcons.
"That first year, you realize some of the players you have and what their strengths are don't fit with your philosophy," Cowher was saying the other day. "You have to adapt. You have to identify what you have. You have to be flexible enough to be able to listen and be a great listener."
It is something many rookie head coaches are not able to do, or even overcome. That has been evident in the 10 years since Mike Tomlin replaced Cowher as Steelers coach.
