Cowher to Bills: Thanks but no thanks.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher telling the Bills that he's not interested in discussing their soon-to-be-vacant head coaching position is an indication of the difficult a selling job team owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr. has to do to land a big name.
According to an NFL source, the Bills told Cowher that a $10 million per year contract was feasable. But that wasn't enough to entice Cowher to come out of his three-year retirement, at least for now.
With Cowher apparently out of the running, the Bills have set their sights on former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. Both sides are scheduled for a meeting this week.
A former NFL player who knows Shanahan told my News colleague, Jerry Sullivan, and I on Saturday that Shanahan told him that he would listen to what the Bills had to say, but the former player's guess was Shanahan probably would decline their offer.
Obviously, the Bills could make Shanahan an offer he can't refuse. But he like Cowher are in position to take their time and assess the other coaching jobs that might be out there at the end of the season. Their may be spots out there that are more attractive than the Bills' situation.
If the Bills strike on Shanahan, too, they will have to set their sights a little lower.
---Allen Wilson
