Rate Cowher's tenure

He scores 96% good or excellent on this PG poll.

The characteristic that most defines his tenure with the Steelers, for me, was his incredible intensity. He burned the candle at both its ends, as the saying goes. He took the team to the top rapidly, was the youngest coach to ever appear in the Super Bowl, and lost a real heartbreaker. After that disappointment, he went all Captain Ahab with this silent, smoldering intensity that just kept burning through multiple AFC Championship disappointments. When the Steelers finally swept through the playoffs as a road underdog and won the Super Bowl, I wondered how he would maintain that level now that he finally had a ring. The first half of 2006, it looked to me like he had lost it. He was a different coach. Much wiser than when he started, but I did not see the same drive that he had maintained for an incredibly long time.

So, to my eyes, he burned out. But not before he brought home the Lombardi trophy.

I expect he'll return to coaching, somewhere, in a few years, and I doubt he'll be a Steeler again, which makes me sad. It makes me remember: hey, didn't he begin his career with the Cleveland Browns? If we ever see him on the other side of the sidelines, I'll use that to explain how he could go and lead another team.

But I won't forget he's a champion. And I will always appreciate that. If I had to grade his tenure with the Steelers, I'd give him an A plus for that alone. You can't argue with the ring.