Cowher and the Steelers announced on Thursday that he has signed a three-year contract extension that gives stability to the organization and financial security to Cowher and his family.

If he survives the full term of the agreement, Cowher, 44, will have served 14 years as the Steelers' coach. Chuck Noll spent 23 years in Pittsburgh.

Cowher said he can't predict the eventual length of his career, but he has said that he wants to end it with the Steelers.

"I really have never looked that far," he said. "I try to make sure I can go into it with the same energy level, same enthusiasm, same drive. I feel like it's still there like the first year I came here.

"The guy prior to me coming here was able to sustain it for a long time. But I think it is an individual thing. It is all in how you approach things and it has a lot to do with the organization that you are work in. There is a lot of support that is given."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it's safe to say that Cowher received a slight raise over his $2.3 million and $2.5 million annual salaries he was due to receive in 2001 and 2002. Prior to signing the new agreement, Cowher was in the final two years of a contract that he signed in 1998.

Cowher's Record
Here is the Steelers' year-by-year record under coach Bill Cowher:
1992 11-5 AFC Central champion
1993 9-7 Runner-up AFC Central
(wild-card playoff berth)
1994 12-4 AFC Central champion
1995 11-5 AFC champion
(lost Super Bowl XXX)
1996 10-6 AFC Central champion
1997 11-5 AFC Central champion
1998 7-9 Third in AFC Central
1999 6-10 Fourth in AFC Central
2000 9-7 Third in AFC Central

Note: Cowher's record in the postseason is 5-6.

Cowher now stands among some of the highest-paid coaches in the NFL, including the Cleveland Browns' Butch Davis, who will be paid about $3.1 million this season; the New York Giants' Jim Fassel, who led his team to Super Bowl XXXV and then signed a contract that will pay him $2.75 million; the Jacksonville Jaguars' Tom Coughlin, who earns about $2.6 million; and the Washington Redskins' Marty Schottenheimer, whose base salary will be $2.5 million.

Cowher, who is entering his 10th season with the Steelers, is the longest-tenured coach in the NFL, along with Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings. Ten months ago, Green signed an extension that will pay him $9 million over three years, starting in 2002.

Steelers vice president Art Rooney wouldn't reveal details of his coach's deal, other than to say it is "a competitive contract."

Cowher's agent Phil de Picciotto also refused to comment on specific terms, but he called it a "win-win situation" for both sides.

"I would say, in keeping with the relationship and mutual respect they have for each other, the Steelers were very appropriate in discussing the structure of the agreement with us," de Picciotto said. "There is no coaching relationship anywhere in the league that is stronger than this one. Both sides reached an agreement that makes each of them very happy."

With two years left on Cowher's previous deal, Rooney said there was no urgency to negotiate a new one, but the team hoped that a new contract for its coach would coincide with the opening of Heinz Field next month.

"We wanted to be able to come into the new stadium and really establish a new chapter in the Steelers tradition," Rooney said, "and going into our first year in a new stadium with a coach with only two years left is not something we felt was the way to establish that.

"The most important thing is we have a lot of confidence in Bill. We like the direction things are going in terms of the way the organization is functioning.

"We felt it was the time to make this move. If you don't do it this year, next year, you have a coach going into his last season.

"We are not an organization that changes coaches every time the wind blows in a different direction. That is an important part of how we have been successful over the long haul."

Rooney pointed out that if Cowher stays through the duration of his contract, "That will be almost 40 years that we had two coaches. That's the kind of stability we want to have. That's the kind of stability Bill has helped bring."

Added de Picciotto: "Organizationally, the Steelers have always had a long-term vision of what they want their team to be. It was natural for both sides that the players all knew that for the next five years, there was a plan in place, a unified vision from management of what the team was going to look like and who was going to lead it."

Cowher has compiled a 91-64 record in nine seasons, but the team is only 22-26 in the past three. The Steelers haven't been to the playoffs since 1997, although they improved to 9-7 last year after consecutive 7-9 and 6-10 seasons.

With the contract now aside, Cowher wasn't kidding when he said, "We have a lot of work ahead of us."