Calmer coaches

DETROIT — Bill Cowher is best known for his jutting jaw, his sideline histrionics and his fierce temper. He also is known for, well, just being there.

When the Pittsburgh native was hired to coach the Steelers in January 1992, the focus was not on the 34-year-old newcomer as much as it was on the exit of four-time Super Bowl champion Chuck Noll.

But 14 seasons and 106 NFL coaching changes later, Cowher still is there on the sideline in Pittsburgh, spewing spittle at players who let him down and launching wild-eyed tirades at officials who cross him.

Under Cowher, the Steelers have been the best team in the league during the regular season, winning 63 percent of their games and eight division titles and qualifying for the playoffs 10 times.

But Cowher’s resume still has one major void.

Unlike his counterpart in Super Bowl XL on Sunday, Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, Cowher hasn’t won a championship. He is, in fact, 2-5 in AFC title games — five of which were played at home — and Super Bowls.

And yet, Cowher seems more at peace with that record than he did a few years back.

He says there is nothing he would like more than to hand Steelers owner Dan Rooney a fifth Lombardi Trophy to go with the four they walk by each day as they go to their offices.

But Cowher, a tad defensively, refuses to be defined by his lack of a title.

“In a lot of people’s eyes, it’s the defining part of a career, but I don’t know if I necessarily feel that way,” Cowher said. “In my 14 years, I’ve got a lot of great memories and relationships that I will cherish for a lifetime. And for me, that’s more important than any game. … I look at the journey more so than the destination.”

Whoa. Has Bill Cowher, the wild-eyed maniac of the sideline, turned into Dr. Phil? Will he replace the just-retired Dick Vermeil as the NFL’s new serial, tear-stained hugger?

“In years past, there was more … pressure to perform,” sixth-year offensive tackle Marvel Smith said. “Coach has been real laid-back. He lets us just go out there and make plays.”

Steelers receiver Hines Ward, an eight-year veteran, said the players want to win the Super Bowl for Cowher to “silence all of those critics who say that he can’t win the big game” — a sentiment not often expressed in the past.

Cowher is notoriously intense and hot-tempered. In 1997, he had to restrain himself at the last second from tackling a Jacksonville Jaguars player. The next season, he ran onto the field to confront an official with photographic evidence of an incorrect call on a penalty on the Steelers for having 12 men in on a play.

There were no such incidents this season even when the Steelers, 15-1 in 2004, slipped to 7-5 and the brink of elimination from the playoff race.

But others don’t see any dimming of the fire that burns within Cowher.

“People talk about how he’s so fiery and everybody is trying to guess when that’s going to leave, but in my eight years here, it still hasn’t,” guard Alan Faneca said.

Said linebackers coach Keith Butler: “Bill’s a passionate guy, and he’s going to say things maybe that he doesn’t mean at times, but I like working for a guy who wants to do everything he can to win. Bill’s fair, but at the same time, he’s going to jump on your butt if you’re not doing something right.”

Cowher’s team has never gotten it right at this point. But he says there’s less pressure on the favored Steelers now than there was in the past seven games, when they knew they had to keep winning to get to Detroit.

“We’ve been close many times so certainly you cherish the opportunity that you have,” Cowher said. “Pittsburgh has always been known as a sports town, a blue-collar town. You learn that nothing can be handed to you. That’s why you see a lot of good coaches come out of there because you there’s a work ethic that exists. You learn how to compete at an early age, know the difference between winning and losing and you’re very proud of that.”

Pittsburghers are thrilled that Cowher has coached the sixth-seeded Steelers into their first Super Bowl in a decade. They’ll be even prouder of their native son if he delivers the city its first championship since the Penguins won the Stanley Cup five months after he was hired.

“We’re not done with that journey,” Cowher said. “This thing wasn’t about week-to-week. It was about finishing a deal.”

So maybe the journey and the destination, the old Cowher and the new Cowher, aren’t that different after all.