For now, players expect Cowher to coach next year

Pittsburgh has had just two coaches since 1969.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- If the Pittsburgh Steelers are determined to win one for Bill Cowher, they're certainly not acting like it.
With the Steelers (7-8) now out of playoff contention, the focus for their season-ending game Sunday at Cincinnati has shifted to the possible resignation of Bill Cowher less than 11 months after he coached them to a Super Bowl victory.
Except, it seems, in their own locker room.
"No, that's not the motivation," linebacker Joey Porter said Wednesday. "I don't think nobody is using that because he's never said anything like that to us. That's not a motivational speech you can use until somebody says it."
Cowher plans to announce his future plans next week -- a sign that the NFL coach with the longest current tenure with a single team may be ready to retire or temporarily step out of the NFL after 15 seasons in Pittsburgh. He has one season left on a contract he signed in 2004, but has made no move to sign an extension.
In many NFL cities, changes in the front office and the coaching staff occur on a fairly regular basis. But not in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers have had the same primary ownership for all but a few months since 1933 and only two coaches since 1969.
While the 49-year-old Cowher's status is the topic de jour in the city where he coaches, his players don't seem to be caught up in the is-he-staying or is-he-going discussions.
"I'm not lying, we don't talk about it until you guys come asking about it," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told reporters. "It's not a thought on our minds."
Close relationship
Porter has played for Cowher, and only Cowher, since 1999 and the two have more than a usual player-coach relationship. When Cowher's two oldest daughters came to town Friday to play in Princeton's basketball game against Duquesne, Porter and linebacker Larry Foote were among those sitting with Cowher and his wife.
If Cowher steps down, it may be to spend more time watching his three daughters play basketball -- his youngest is a high school sophomore in North Carolina -- before he decides whether he wants to coach again. He also might want to move into a broadcast booth as an analyst.
Porter said he isn't certain what Cowher plans to do, although he said a couple of weeks ago that he expected Cowher to return.
"You stay out of that situation -- that's the man's business," Porter said. "Hopefully he is here, that's all I'm hoping for. Until he tells me different, that's what I'm planning on."
Wide receiver Hines Ward, like Porter, is one of the few NFL players who have spent substantial time in the league yet have played for only one head coach. Ward, whose career began in 1998, said it would be a big change if Cowher leaves, but change is the league's one constant.
"In this business, players and coaches come and go, if Cowher stays, everybody in the city will love it," Ward said. "If he goes, every man has his right to leave and go on to do other things. We as players appreciate the time we've had with him, and we're not really looking or worried about the future."
However, Ward said he would like to see the Steelers promote Cowher's replacement, if there is one, from within. Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and offensive line coach Russ Grimm have interviewed previously for head coaching jobs.
"Of course you would love to stay in-house," Ward said. "The coaching staff knows you, but that's not my job. I just play."
Opposing team's thoughts
The Bengals (8-7) also are paying attention to the Steelers' situation, if only because none of them has opposed a Steelers team that wasn't coached by Cowher.
"He's too good of a coach to hang it up forever," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "I'm sure he'll be back. Whether he's back with Pittsburgh next year or not, he'll be back in this league at some point."
Coach Marvin Lewis is among those who find it difficult to envision a Steelers sideline without Cowher, who has led the Steelers to two Super Bowls and six AFC championship games since 1992.
"Obviously, what he's been able to do in 15 seasons there with the Steelers is just off the charts -- the success, the teams, the players, the coaches," Lewis said. "It will be a shame."
Cowher's predecessor, four-time Super Bowl champion Chuck Noll, won his final two games with the Steelers, beating the Bengals and Browns by identical 17-10 scores in 1991 to complete a 7-9 season.
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