(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Former Steelers head coach and Hall of Famer Bill Cowher recently had a one-on-one interview with DJ Sixsmith of CBS to talk about his new memoir Heart and Steel that goes on sale this Tuesday.
In his book, Cowher discusses his childhood in Crafton, playing college football at North Carolina State and making it to the NFL, along with becoming the head coach of his hometown Steelers and losing his wife and his father.
Cowher says a conversation with Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells really influenced his decision to retire from coaching. Cowher said the toughest parts of the book to write were about the loved ones that are no longer with him.
“It was really difficult and I give a lot of credit to Michael Holley because there were a couple of sessions where I was laughing about them because of how much I love them and crying about them because I miss them,” Cowher told Sixsmith. “I was proud of them. They molded who I was. I sat there and watched my wife fight through cancer and then I sat there with my dad at the end of his life. I had stepped away and I was trying to find out what the next stage was and I saw other people in the final stages. It makes you very thankful for what you have and reflective of where you’ve been and where you want to go.”
Cowher was on the CBS Morning Show on Friday with Gayle King to talk about the journey of his new book, as well as life lessons on and off the field.
"This memoir really to me, I did it because I got to the Hall of Fame, you start to reflect on your football life, the pandemic comes, you start to reflect on your own life. It just seemed like the right time to go back and people have this perception of me, whatever it may me be, but you really don't know me," Cowher said. "And to find the right collaborator in that being Michael Holley, a guy who went to Point Park College, a guy who (is) from northeast Ohio. We sat down and we put this together and it's a series of hardships, opportunities and lessons. And that's what life is about, right? And it's called you learn from each experience, it's called personal growth."
Below is the link to pre-order Cowher's memoir that will come out on June 1.