It has been nearly 15 years since Bill Cowher last coached in the NFL, which is why most people have given up on the idea of it ever happening again. But if one specific team comes calling this offseason, Boomer Esiason seems to think his longtime colleague could be convinced.
Esiason and his “Boomer & Gio Show” co-host Gregg Gianotti discussed the New York Jets head coaching job this week, as it is widely assumed that Adam Gase will be fired following the season. Boomer mentioned how the Jets will have the No. 1 pick and be in desperate need of a culture change, which is a similar situation to the one they were in when Bill Parcells became their coach in 1997. Gianotti brought up Cowher but prefaced it by saying “that’ll never happen,” and that’s when Esiason seemed to object.
Esiason questioned why his co-host doesn’t think Cowher will ever return to coaching. He then shared an interesting story from Sunday’s edition of “CBS NFL Today,” which is where Boomer and Cowher work together.
“All I know is that (Sunday), he was showing me and Nate (Burleson) film of him coaching on the sideline where he was mic’ed up, and we looked at each other like, ‘Hmm, what does that mean?’” Boomer said. “Is he sending a message? I’ve worked with him for 14 years and I’ve never seen that.”
The conversation then took an even more interesting turn.
“He was saying to me yesterday, he’s the one that told me the Jets job is going to be really attractive, and they could hire whomever they want, and he told me he loves Joe Douglas,” Esiason added.
Gianotti mentioned how Esiason always emphatically shoots down the idea of Cowher returning to coaching, so it’s noteworthy that he’s leaving open the possibility of Cowher coaching the Jets. Boomer said Cowher’s wife is a huge Jets fan who uses “we” when talking about the team. He added that he thinks Cowher would have to consider the offer if the Jets wanted to make him the highest-paid coach in football and give him roster control, but Boomer said he doesn’t want his opinion to “get twisted around into clickbait.”
Esiason seemed to be just speculating, but he knows Cowher better than most. That’s why his opinion is significant.
Cowher is 63, and it is still highly unlikely that he will return to coaching. There were rumors of him being interested in jobs for years after he left the Pittsburgh Steelers, but there’s a reason nothing ever came of them. The Hall of Famer is content spending time with his family and working for CBS. We doubt the Jets can convince him to leave all that.
