Revisiting Bill Cowher’s coaching tree
Following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ embarrassing exit from the playoffs this season, disgruntled fans begin unearthing every stone for answers to their questions. A recurring theme that circulates from “rage bait” farmers in the media to satisfy this appetite is that of Mike Tomlin’s coaching tree.
For the uninitiated, a coaching tree is thought of as assistants under a head coach who go on to be hired as a head coach elsewhere. For example, Mike Tomlin is thought of as being a branch off of Hall of Famer Tony Dungy’s coaching tree.
Coaching trees are thought of as being important because the NFL is a copycat league. Seldom are assistant coaches ever poached from losing teams – unless that assistant has prior head coaching experience and is successful in the current role. A current example is Dan Quinn of the Washington Commanders who spent the last several seasons prior as the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.
Usually, assistants are signed off of conference championship teams. The Detroit Lions just lost both of their coordinators, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, to the Bears and Jets respectively.
A knock on Mike Tomlin over the years is that he has no branches from his tree. While there are reasons for that (and it’s patently false in others) the coaching tree narratives around the league are overrated at best. It’s believed these branches will bring success to the franchise that hires the new coach, but often that’s not the case.
That would be true of Tomlin’s predecessor Bill Cowher as well, who had great measures of success in the Steel City that every other team wanted to emulate. Yet, when Cowher assistants left Pittsburgh, it was usually met with failure.
Those failures have been forgotten with time, so I wanted to revisit Bill Cowher’s coaching tree to remind everyone of how poorly some of Cowher’s great assistants performed when they were hired to be the head coach elsewhere. (Parentheses denote years as a head coach and overall record.)
Dom Capers (8 seasons, 48-80)
Dom Capers was one of Bill Cowher’s earliest assistants who was hired away by the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995. Capers would famously lead the Panthers to the NFC title game in 1996 – their second season in existence – but was largely a failure otherwise with campaigns of 7-9 (twice) and 4-12 before being let go.
He would resurface again with another expansion team, the Houston Texans, in 2022. Capers would have four losing seasons, combining for a record of 18-46 including a 2-14 campaign in 2005 that was ultimately his last season as a head coach anywhere.
Chan Gailey (5 seasons, 34-46)
Serving as Bill Cowher’s offensive coordinator in 1996 and 1997, Gailey was hired by the Dallas Cowboys and lasted two seasons with a surprisingly winning record, but would find that his second year going 8-8 would be his last. He would land in Buffalo in 2010, coaching the Bills to records of 4-12, 6-10, and 6-10.
Jim Haslett (7 seasons 47-61)
Haslett served as Cowher’s defensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999, replacing Capers. He would go on to head the New Orleans Saints in 2000 for a total of six seasons. Haslett would lead the Saints to a winning record and a playoff berth, including a win, in his first year but failed to qualify for the playoffs again during his tenure. His final season with the Saints, a 3-13 campaign, was his last.
He would resurface as a defensive coordinator in St. Louis with the Rams and replace Scott Linehan (who was fired after starting the season 0-4). However, Haslett’s leadership wasn’t much of a difference maker as the team went 2-10 under his helm. He would continue coaching as a coordinator with Washington, following this stint.
Mike Mularkey (6 seasons, 36-53)
Mularkey was the engineer of some dynamic Steelers offenses utilizing “Slash” Kordell Stewart and also giving new life to former first round bust Tommy Maddox (who had fallen out of the league entirely and returned with the Steelers in 2001 as a backup.)
Mularkey is a good argument for where coaches “branch” from. He was a former Steelers tight end who played under Chuck Noll for three seasons, retiring in 1992 when Cowher arrived. He would coach tight ends for Tampa Bay, and then the Steelers, before moving up to the OC spot. Whether that makes him a branch from Noll and Cowher is a debate for a later time – and one I reserve for former Tomlin players-turned-coach too.
However, what’s not of debate is Mularkey’s coaching record, which was met with success but also fraught with failures. Mularkey would be a head coach three times: two seasons with the Buffalo Bills, one season with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-14) and then two full seasons with the Tennessee Titans, including a partial season where he replaced another Cowher branch, Ken Whisenhunt.
Mularkey would only lead one of his teams to the postseason. Incidentally, he was let go after that team one a playoff game in 2017 but didn’t make it past the Divisional Round.
(Side note: Current Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith could be a branch from Mularkey’s tree, having served as a tight ends coach there but outlasted several different head coaches in various roles for the Titans between 2011 to 2020.)
Ken Whisenhunt (8 seasons, 48-71)
One of the more well-known Cowher branches was in final contention to succeed him as head coach before Mike Tomlin was hired. Whisenhunt would instead branch out on his own after three seasons as the Steelers OC, taking the head job with the Arizona Cardinals and leading them to an NFC Championship and showdown with his former team in Super Bowl 43.
Whisenhunt’s first three seasons were all successful to some degree, leading the Cardinals to records of 8-8, 9-7, and 10-6, with the Super Bowl trip in-between. Following the 10-6 playoff team that lost in the Divisional Round, “Whiz” was unable to capture his previous success with campaigns of 5-11, 8-8, and 5-11, before being let go.
He would be hired by the Titans, accruing a 3-20 record before being fired after Week 8 and being replaced by Mularkey.
Dick LeBeau (3 seasons, 12-33)
Everyone’s favorite “Coach Dad” has a strong argument for being a dual Hall of Famer as a player and coach, if assistants were considered for the honor. However, as a head coach, LeBeau would falter.
The question for this article is: Does LeBeau count as a “branch” from Cowher after serving as an assistant for three different teams (Eagles, Packers, Bengals) between 1973 and 1991 before joining Bill’s staff?
LeBeau would serve three seasons as the Steelers defensive back coach before being promoted by Cowher in 1995 to replace Dom Capers. LeBeau would lead the Steelers defense for two seasons before returning to the Cincinnati Bengals following the Steelers loss in Super Bowl XXX. He served as Cincy’s defensive coordinator from 1984 to 1991, and would take over the same role again from 1997 to 1999.
In 2000, LeBeau would replace Bruce Coslet after three games and remain the head coach through the 2002 season. His records with the Bengals: 4-9, 6-10, and 2-14.
The architect of “Blitzburgh” would return to Pittsburgh in 2004 after serving one season as an assistant head coach with Buffalo. He would also serve in the same capacity for Mularkey’s three years in Tennessee.
Marvin Lewis (16 seasons, 131-122)
Finally, who gets to claim Marvin Lewis as a branch? Would it be Cowher, where Lewis served as a linebackers coach for four seasons in the 1990s? Or would it be Ted Marchibroda or Brian Billick, under whom Lewis served as defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens between 1996-2001?
Or does Steve Spurrier get the credit, as Lewis’ one-year stint with Washington landed him the head coaching position with the Bengals the very next season?
This is why coaching trees get overblown. Regardless, Lewis has a winning record throughout his long tenure as a head coach in the NFL, spending 16 consecutive seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals but always fell short in defeat to either Cowher or Tomlin when the playoffs rolled around.
Lewis has seven postseason appearances – all losses, but can claim four AFC North division titles on his resume. (That’s why many compare Tomlin to him.)
Where’s Bruce Arians?
Funny you may ask… Just like the above discussion about LeBeau or Lewis, whose tree does Arians fall under? He began his coaching career in 1975, made it to the NFL as a running backs coach with the Chiefs in 1989 and spent time with numerous teams in various positions at the pro and college level before arriving in Pittsburgh as a receivers coach under Bill Cowher in 2004.
One of those stops included a stint as offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns from 2001-2003. Furthermore, Arians became Mike Tomlin’s offensive coordinator between 2007-2001 before winning two NFL Coach of the Year awards – with one of those seasons statistically attributed to then Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, who took a leave of absence for health reasons.
Therefore, Arians could technically be claimed by Bill Cowher, Butch Davis, Jim E. Mora (Sr.), Chuck Pagano, Marty Schottenheimer, or Mike Tomlin!
Hiring Former Head Coaches
Cowher wasn’t immune to a similar practice of Tomlin’s in hiring formerly displaced head coaches. While Tomlin famously brought aboard previously fired heads such as Todd Haley, Mike Munchak, Brian Flores, and Arthur Smith, Cowher also had his share of failed heads hired as assistants.
Among them are Ron Erhardt (21-28 as a head coach) and Kevin Gilbride (6-16). Each severed as an offensive coordinator with the Steelers under Cowher. Erhardt was run out of Pittsburgh after four seasons following the Super Bowl XXX loss to the Cowboys while Gilbride only lasted two seasons with the Steelers, between 1999 and 2000.
