NFL

Bill Cowher won’t coach ‘any time in the near future’

Bill Cowher is advancing his second career on Sunday as he continues to put his first career on hold.

Cowher has taken a “never-say-never” approach to a potential return to coaching, but he does not see it happening soon.

“I don’t see myself going back there any time in the near future,” said Cowher, 56.

On Sunday, Cowher will be watching the team he used to coach, the winless Steelers, as he takes his first full-fledged foray into the booth when the Jets play host to Pittsburgh.

“I am going into the booth on Sunday, and that’ll be a nice new challenge, as well,” said Cowher, who said his two previous times in the booth were brief appearances during the U.S. Open and a Carolina Hurricanes game.

Cowher won one Super Bowl while coaching the Steelers from 1992-2006. He stepped away from the game and has been a CBS studio analyst ever since. He has been linked to several coaching jobs, with speculation most frequently surrounding the Giants, at times when Tom Coughlin’s position had been in jeopardy.

But Cowher says he is content working for CBS and is only worried about improving at that craft.

“I’ll never say never, but I really enjoy what I am doing at CBS in the studio,” he said. “I want to do my work and be as good as I can be at it. I am in a really good place, talking about all the games with the other guys.”

Cowher will be working alongside Phil Simms and Jim Nantz in the MetLife Stadium booth.

Boomer Esiason and Shannon Sharpe also are branching out from the studio, calling the games at their former playing homes in Cincinnati and Denver, respectively.