Bill Cowher Tested Positive for Coronavirus, Not Sure About Football
Last week, Mike Tomlin announced two Steelers players tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this offseason. In a conference call with media, Tomlin said those players have overcome the virus and are ready to return to football when teams report.
This week, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher provided an even bigger shock, telling The Athletic's Ed Bouchette he and his wife, Veronica Stigeler, tested positive in March.
Cowher said he and Stigeler first realized they were feeling the symptoms when they lost their sense of taste and smell while returning home from Honolulu. They tested positive, but did recover, and tested positive for the antibodies as well.
"I think I got it in New York and all the traveling, people coming into Newark airport at the same time," Cowher said. "That's when the virus came from Europe and there was no shutdown. We were out in New York that weekend as well in a few restaurants. Who knows? There were people in Honolulu coming from China and in Newark they were coming from Europe."
Cowher, along with Steelers greats Donnie Shell and Troy Polamalu, was supposed to be enshrined into the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame class this fall. After beating the virus, he's aware the NFL made the right choice in postponing the event.
"I'm really kind of relieved," Cowher said. "As much as you want to be reflective and talk about the people who were so instrumental in your life, now is not the time, not just with COVID but with the social justice issues. These are very transparent times and it's so fluid. The Hall of Fame needs to be reflective. I'm glad it's still going to be Dallas and Pittsburgh playing (next year), which is great. I think right now it's just hard to really think about anything celebratory when the country is in the state it is."
When asked if he believes football will happen this season, Cowher told Buchette, "I don't know." A common theme amongst many analysts and players this summer.
"No. 1, the players have to feel comfortable with whatever they come up with from a testing standpoint, from a protocol standpoint," Cowher said. "I totally understand the reluctance. Even though they say young people aren't getting it, you also have people who have asthma, people who have underlying conditions in their families — they're going back to their homes with parents who may now be elderly. It's not like you can isolate yourself from everybody, particularly during a season that's five months long ... I still think we have a long way to go. It's going to come down to the league and the NFLPA feeling comfortable moving forward, and even within that, if they come up with a set of guidelines, and now a player who doesn't feel comfortable, he may not want to be part of it. It affects people differently not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint ... I think we have to respect that."
Noah Strackbein is a Senior Writer with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
