The chances were slim to none, and slim left town when Jets owner Woody Johnson did.
Any miniscule chance the Jets had of bringing in Bill Cowher as their head coach went away when the vacationing Johnson could not meet with the former Steelers coach.
Cowher spoke about the Jets pursuit of him on WFAN’s “Boomer & Carton” show today.
“If Woody would’ve wanted to talk to me, like Randy Lerner of the Browns did (then I would’ve), it was kind of the same thing.” Cowher said.
Cowher turned down the Browns after meeting with Lerner, the team’s owner, several weeks ago. Cowher was asked if there’s anything Johnson could have said to bring him to New York.
“That’s a hypothetical that I can’t answer, because I just don’t know,” Cowher said. “If there wasn’t a chance then I wouldn’t have listened to anybody . . . I’m going to listen, because I have options right now, but realistically speaking there was a very slim chance that I would’ve come back this year.”
Cowher said that he is now committed to returning to CBS next year and would not have a meeting with Johnson if the owner contacted him now.
“Not at this point. I’m not going to coach next year,” Cowher said.
Cowher said he turned down the position quickly to try to prevent more speculation.
“I was very respectful of the Jets. From coming to New York once a week for CBS, the one thing I’ve learned is that they have a very passionate fan base,” Cowher said. “I probably didn’t realize that as much, and sometimes these things can take on a life of its’ own and that’s why there was never any dialogue, and I wanted to put an end to it so that way the Jets could move on.”
One man who is still a candidate for the Jets’ head-coaching position is Cardinals assistant Russ Grimm, who worked under Cowher in Pittsburgh.
“I do think Russ would make a good coach, a guy that the fans would warm up to,” Cowher said. “I think he is a guy the players would relate to. I think he’d be able to come in and do a great job.”
The Jets will interview Grimm on Thursday in Arizona.