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Thank you.

Hi everyone.

Mayor Corey O'Connor.

This is a special edition of Conversations with Coach Cowher.

I'm so excited to do this.

Growing up, Coach Cowher was the Steelers head coach when I was a little kid.

I got to meet him a number of times.

Got to go to so many games.

But he was very inspirational to a lot of us.

He represents our city wherever he goes, and he wears it on his sleeve.

And I couldn't ask for a better ambassador to Pittsburgh than Coach Cowher.

So I'm interested to have him in the hot seat today and talk a lot about the issues that he grew up with, and talk about how great Pittsburgh is.

Coach, thank you for sitting down with me.

I'm lucky to be not in the hot seat, and I get to hold coaches feet to the fire because this is his show.

But I get to host today.

Thank you for for all these conversations that you're having, because it's important to tell the Pittsburgh story.

So, you know, first question, we went back in our records and found that you had two unpaid parking tickets around Heinz Field.

So knowing that the city has some financial trouble, we will nail you those tickets, if you don't mind.

I, I total oversight on my part, mayor.

Sorry.

You're okay.

You're good.

Parked wherever you want.

When you win a Super Bowl, you can park wherever.

That's right.

But on behalf of the residents of Pittsburgh, you know, being a Pittsburgh person, why was it so important for you to do this show?

To talk about our city?

You're just growing up there and having an opportunity to come back and coach there and win that fifth Super Bowl for, for, for, for the city was so special to me.

And last year I had a chance to talk about the U.S.

open when it came to, Oakmont and talked about that.

And, you know, the opportunity was presented to me by the group at WQED and the talk about sit down, maybe have conversations with a lot of people who grew up in Pittsburgh and maybe some of the core values that you had and how that maybe navigated your or formed your journey through whatever careers you were in.

And you go back and look at it.

And it was while it was a great opportunity to talk to so many athletes that have come from there and so many different sports, you know, particularly even going back to like even Rocco Mediate and Carol Semple Thompson last year.

We talked about the U.S.

open, but I think the other concept was Pittsburgh is more than sports.

I mean, there's a great diversity of culture there and people that were so successful in our elements of life.

But you're going to find that no matter what you do, the same core values that you grew up in Pittsburgh existed, no matter what journey you took, whether you start to branch off, you hit that fork in the road.

We all may going one way somebody else went another way.

But you find yourself kind of resonating back to the way you were brought up to what about the grit, the determination, the passion, the hard work, the humility, the sense of giving back all the things that you were born and and raised to understand as being a part of who you are as an individual.

Pick a career.

Don't be defined by it.

Be defined by who you are able to touch along the way of that journey.

And I think, absolutely, honestly, mayor, I said, it's amazing when you hear all the different people the same message that exists, the same core values are right there, the same culture that they grew up in at some point helped shape who they were.

And coach, I think you make the best point is we are the best salespeople for Pittsburgh.

As you said, people boomerang out and so many, you know, unfortunately have left over the years.

But they are selling Pittsburgh to the whole world.

And I think that's what you talk about, the grit, the heart, how we were raised.

It stays with you.

And as you mentioned, I mean, some of your interviews aren't just sports.

No.

And I think that's the important part, as you say.

You know, Pittsburgh's in a lot of things that people just don't give us credit for anymore, no question about it.

And I said, you know, you think about the people who have left and how they sometimes come back.

Joe Manganiello, Mt.

Lebanon, a guy goes to LA.

Now he's moving back into the area.

But I said, you know, you can always take people out of Pittsburgh, but you'll never take the Pittsburgh out of people.

You know.

And I think you go back to the same thing because, you know, I, I used to I was always starting all these conversations with I go back to like, give me your favorite Pittsburgh food, you know, and I and everyone says for Primanti Brothers I would say it's Isaly's chipped ham for me personally.

You know so well that, you know, that's part of the rapid fire.

So you're in the hot seat.

Okay, okay.

Great.

Technically, I you know, this is the city's show right now, so you're on the hot seat with these questions.

So, so, favorite food that's gone Isaly's chipped ham.

Yes.

Great call.

Yes, yes.

And then what is your favorite Pittsburgh word?

So my mom used to always say go right up the room.

And I never realized what she meant.

Okay.

Or you say go Dahntahn.

And so I still go Dahntahn.

And obviously if you're going to go with a bunch your friends, you go, you're going Yinz.

I'm going to Yinz.

So you are Yinze.

And the one thing I never wanted to be called was a jag off.

So so I said so these.

Right.

So I made sure that that didn't take place.

Well that you're spot on on those words.

Yeah.

Nobody wants to be a jag off ever.

So when there are visitors coming, what would be the first place you take them in Pittsburgh?

Well, it was certainly Three River stadium, Heinz Field.

Acrisure now all on the same area, same spot.

I personally there's two places.

First one is Civic Arena, it was just now PPG I think arena.

And I remember going down there on Sunday afternoons and we would go see the Duquesne Dukes play, okay.

And they would play on Sunday afternoons.

I used to be honest with you, I used to try to sneak in at times because I didn't have the money, so I would go run behind a family and we would pay.

Three of us would take the Pat bus down from Crafton.

We would go to the Civic Arena.

We all try to go to different gates, and they go in and every now and then you got in there.

So.

So, you know, you sit there and say, dad, daddy, you forgot me.

So you run in, you run past a person, I'm with them.

And so most of the time it worked every now and, and we lost one along the way.

He got caught.

Yeah.

That's okay.

Yeah.

So but you my favorite place to be honest with you.

Kennywood.

Kennywood.

Kennywood to me, was a day I remember when I had to sell the tickets at the, at high school.

So you get all your role tickets that you could buy at your school for that day out.

And I just remember keeping money and saving money so I could work up and buy as many tickets as I could.

You know, some of the rides took four tickets some took two tickets, you know, but I get there in.

The first place I went to was the jackrabbit for the roller coaster.

So I came off the jackrabbit.

Yeah, yeah.

You always you want to get on the one at one, right?

So.

Right.

Exactly.

The racer and everything.

What So it's funny that you mentioned sneaking into the Duquesne games.

I will tell you, most of the Monday night games when you coach.

Yeah, I snuck in with my dad.

So we at Three Rivers.

We sat he had season tickets in the little pop out in the Yinzer home play, and he would always go and he would have one ripped ticket.

And it was from a Miami Dolphins game from two years prior.

He would put that below his ticket and I would go first and he said, run as fast as you can.

I'll meet you at the seat.

So you know, hey, old school Pittsburgh, everybody did it.

And there was always that ticket taker that somebody knew or grew up with.

And you tried to get to that aisle.

Yeah.

And you know what?

That's the greatest thing about Pittsburghers.

We find a way to work every system that's out there.

You know, sometimes it's just about winning, you know.

And so.

Right.

Yeah.

And when you get to the game, two people wait for one ticket.

That's a win.

Oh, it's a huge win.

Yeah, it's a bonus.

Yeah.

So it's amazing how the stories don't change.

So we'll get a little sporty here.

So what is your favorite NFL team to be when you were coaching the Steelers.

I would say originally probably the Cleveland Browns but without a doubt as when they left.

And that's why I say Cleveland.

They turned into the Baltimore Ravens.

And so I used to say they're not the Ravens, they're the Browns.

So I think there's a lot of history there that when me and Joe picked up, Turkey Jones.

Yeah, I think Put him on his back.

So I mean, there's a lot of history and I play for the Browns too mayor now, you know I, I did I know with and with Marty.

Marty was a great coach.

One of the most underrated coaches.

I'm sure you could talk about him for a while, but yeah, I got to share a story with you, though.

When I was with the Browns, my dad was a very proud father, lived in Crafton in Pennsylvania, worker, worked for a car insurance company.

So when I was playing for the Browns, he said, I'm gonna put a brown sticker on the bumper of the car.

Dad, I'm not so sure that's a good idea because no, no, no one's going to tell me what to do as a Pittsburgher is I'm going to be me.

That's who I am.

So we would play every time the Browns played Pittsburgh, we came in one time the night before someone would take my dad's aerial and they would turn it into a P. And my dad got so mad that every time he used to stand up at night, I'm going to catch that kid.

Whoever's turning my aerial into a P, I go, dad, just take the sticker off the back of the car.

It's not a big deal.

I know you're poor for me, but you don't have to do it.

No one's going to tell me what to put on my car.

Pittsburgher Yeah.

No one's going to tell us what to do.

Now we're.

We're a little stubborn sometimes, so.

Yeah.

So that was my story with my father.

So from these conversations that you're having, you know, what do you think a lot of these individuals, they're talking about Pittsburgh.

What's sort of the common theme that they're, you know, from Pittsburgh, but but what's their theme?

The grit, the determination.

Yeah.

I get a feeling they're very excited to talk about it.

They are very excited to talk about.

And I think they're very proud to talk about it.

I think that's the one thing that I go back to and saying is that as much as they have accomplished a guy like Antoine Fuqua, the multiple films he's made, Mark Cuban, you know, started his entrepreneurship at a very young age up in Mount Lebanon.

Swin cash, you know, Billy Gardell.

And I mean, what he's done the Joe Manganiello, what he's done.

He's actually moved back into to to to Pittsburgh.

And so all they they all talk about basically the same thing.

It's the lessons learned from growing up in Pittsburgh.

Not that there weren't mistakes along the way, but I think some of the great mistakes we make are nothing more than lessons learned.

You just don't make the same mistake twice.

But the opportunity, the people you're able to be around, the diversity of not just neighborhoods of opportunity, the the arts, the sports, the the cultural part of food, what food has brought to the industry industry is certainly you look at the the medical industry, the tech industry, so many elements of it today that, you know, again, we may not everyone's not there now, but there everyone will tell you that the growing up in Pittsburgh was an integral part of the journey that they've had and the success that they've enjoyed along the way.

And I love going back and hearing their stories, and I love going back, talking to them about it.

It's like going down memory lane for me, and it's like it's the same core values, the same lessons learned.

The same ingrained work ethic that you had that you understood.

And that's the bottom line.

It's all about work ethic.

No one is going to have any handed to you.

You learned at a very early age.

You get what you earn and you have to work at it.

And you know, and so that's and that is taught very early in Pittsburgh.

Yeah.

And I think you bring up a good point is you know, we all come from the same general background.

We might have been in different neighborhoods.

Right.

But what I find interesting is how many people from Pittsburgh are rooting for the person from Pittsburgh.

Yeah.

And, you know, you're interviewing people that you may have met in the past, but now that you know they're from Pittsburgh, you're rooting for their movie to do well, for their stand up to do well.

And I think that's unique that not many cities have that, you know, and the other thing, mayor, is I feel like like some of these people I've interviewed, I just met them for the first time as we're talking right now.

And when I got done with that conversation of 35, 45 minutes, I've got their address, I've got their cells.

I just met a new friend, you know, it's a new friend that we can't like.

We have a lot more in common than we even know.

And that, you know what?

Next time I'm in L.A., next time I'm down in Florida, next time I'm in, wherever it is, let's get together.

And I think those are conversations that we kind of look forward to.

So I said every one of these conversations I've had, it's like meeting a new friend.

And so my circle of friends has grown.

Yeah.

And it's great.

As you mentioned, you know, when we can talk football for a second, but when you're in LA, when you're in San Diego, when you're in Texas, there's a Steeler bar or a Steeler connection at some point.

And it's just, you know, that there are Pittsburghers that just they left for some reason, but they just love it.

And and it's something that to try to explain to somebody that's not from Pittsburgh, they just don't get it.

You know what what kind of advice do you have a first time visitor besides places to go.

But just like breathe it all in and and take in the experience and the people.

Number one, I just think stand up on top of Mount Washington at some point to look down upon that city to see the confluence of three rivers, you know, the Monongahela, the Allegheny that goes into the Ohio, the Point Park right there, the stadiums that are all kind of right there.

You know, you have the theater downtown.

It's just it's a it's a city of boroughs and communities connected via bridges.

And, you know, we have more bridges than Venice.

I mean, come on.

I mean, so, I mean, I mean, it is such a unique place, such a diverse place, but it's such a competitive.

And we all could become very, very, protective of our own individual places.

You learn about competition, you learn about, you know, when you represent Carlynton High School.

Now I'm going up against Sto-Rox.

We're going to go up against Burgettstown.

You know what?

That's a big deal.

So, you know, you learn about winning and losing early and about the pride that you carry with everything you do.

You know, so funny, when I came back to coach the Steelers having left and I got to training camp and I'd sit there after training camp after Latrobe signs from autographs.

But you go sign autographs somewhere else, they give it to you, give it back in Pittsburgh, they're all kind of like, good job, coach.

They they want to hit you or touch you like you're you're one of them.

I said I go, I forgot how much Philly touches Pittsburghers are they.

It's like give me a hug.

Right okay.

Sure.

I'm not sure I know you are, but that's fine.

We're Pittsburghers, we're here.

You're part of the family.

You're in Pittsburgh, or you're part of the family you're going to.

We're going to invite you in for a dinner.

We're going to do various things like that just on the spur of the moment.

And I think that's something that that we should never change.

Somebody asked me the other day, you know, how are you going to grow Pittsburgh?

And I said, we just have to be Pittsburgh, right?

People want to be around that vibe.

Just go to them as many places as you can, you know?

And I think even the downtown, like I go down to the Strip district over to the south side, you know, just sit there and enjoy the Point Park that area down there.

And, you know, a station square.

I mean, so there's there's just so many different parts of it.

And I said it's so kind of community.

There's so many different sections that everyone would feel a little bit different, but you'll have the same vibe, you'll feel the same warmth.

You'll still feel this same sense of pride, of everything that we do down there.

Like you're like like I, we want you to have a good time here and just understand who we are.

We're very proud to be from here.

Very proud people.

And I think you see that pride.

And when you hear about people who grew up here, even though they've left, like I said before, I think the best thing I can say is you could take people out of Pittsburgh, but once you've been here, you'll never take the Pittsburgh out of people.

Now.

And that's the best part, is we have that connection.

It's like, internal fraternity that not many cities have.

And I think, you know, they probably come up to you often because, you know, I'm 41.

So you were the coach growing up.

And a lot of, you know, kids growing up my age, you know, you were the football coach.

So, you know, they're probably looking at you like, okay, so you are gonna, you know, jar me out a little bit, but I kind of need that.

And and by the way, that's the tough love that we loved about Pittsburgh and the grit, as you said.

And you know, I actually remember wasn't a great game.

But we ended up losing when they Jacksonville blocked the field goal.

Yeah.

And you were you are a little animated.

My dad literally got off the couch because it was highlighted ten times.

So like good for him.

I would have, you know, like that's the type of, you know, pride we have is don't ever count us out.

No.

And if something bad happens, you want to show emotion.

People want to know that you're going to fight for your team and your family.

And your city.

And that's something that that is hard to pass on to anybody unless they're from Pittsburgh or they have the story that you had.

Yeah.

You know, growing up and being able to coach your hometown team is tremendous.

And it's passion.

It's the passion that we have for for life.

You know, I think anything you do in Pittsburgh, you learn to appreciate it.

You learn about hard work.

And you know what?

You learn that you're not defined by times.

You get knocked down.

You're defined by how many times you continue to get back up.

Resiliency.

You know, we're all going to have setbacks.

We're have those tough conversations.

Don't take us so personalized to God.

That was one of the conversations I had.

I said, you know, what's funny is when someone told me I couldn't do something, that's all I needed to hear.

Oh, you can't win.

You can't win a championship as a sixth seed, no one's ever done it before.

Oh, we can't.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's all.

Thank you for saying that.

I didn't realize that was part of history, but now let me change history.

So is this.

Yeah.

Tell me I can't do something to a Pittsburgh person.

And it's like, roll the sleeves, We just do this, okay?

And I'll show you why I can.

Right.

And I think that's the M.O.

that the whole city has.

I mean, when we talk to companies and people that are saying, well, why would I come to Pittsburgh, my answer is why Why aren't you in Pittsburgh.

Right.

Like, you're missing out.

And I think that's something that, you know, by you being, you know, obviously worldwide at this point.

But like telling that story, is there anything unique that when you talk to somebody about Pittsburgh, their perspective is something that's absolutely wrong and you have to try to correct them a little bit?

I think there's I think sometimes people think, oh yeah, you guys are arrogant a little bit to this, to the point where you like, you guys think you're from Pittsburgh, you're this or that.

I'm going, I, you gotta be careful with arrogance, with confidence.

Like I think that we're also there's a, you know, a humility that we all have as well.

An appreciation we have for opportunity.

But we're not going to lack confidence like a guy, like we're not going to lack like you may you may beat me today, but I'm going to beat you tomorrow.

You know, you write you you know, you may know that you can sit there, quantify, you can value talent.

But the one thing you can't quantify is hard work.

You know, you may have more talent than me, but you're not going to outwork me.

So a lot of times I used to say, you know, we may not be the best team.

That's out there, but no one's going to work harder than we are, you know?

And we're not going to allow any setbacks to determine our fate.

No one else is going to, like, don't define us.

Somebody else.

The narrative may be what you want it to be.

We control the narrative in Pittsburgh.

We define ourselves.

With our actions speak a lot louder than our words.

Humility is a part of who we are, but accomplishment is who we are as well.

We like winning.

I don't like losing, and we're inspired by losing.

And we're you know what?

We're not surprised by winning.

Absolutely.

And I think, you know, that's the determination that we have because we've we always reinvent ourselves.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah I'm sure you've coached teams where you're a pass team.

You're a run team whatever.

But the city always reinvents themselves.

So you know, now that we're reinventing ourselves again, what advice would you have for somebody that's why should they pick Pittsburgh just to live and raise their kids and their families.

Core values.

Core values.

Number one I think number one, you go there, you have you have core values and you have opportunity.

There is, you know, it's a very diverse like I talked about before.

You know, you have medicine, you have tech, you have theater, you have sports, you have what, all the multiple things that you have in terms of opportunity wise.

But there's also diversity wise, there's core value wise about family.

You know, you talk about the Rooneys being someone and to me they represent the very best of what a Pittsburgher is all about.

They're about faith and family, are about community.

And so I mean they very strong faith, very strong family values.

And it's all about giving back to the community.

And I think that to me is what your life and purpose is all about.

And I think if you can live within those parameters, you can achieve a lot of things individually, but your greatest satisfaction and gratification you will have is your ability to leave something lasting for for other people.

You saw, I say, leaving a better place than you found it.

Okay.

That's something that, you know, my parents taught me to leave it a better place than you found it.

It doesn't mean it has to be the very best.

But if you make an impact, you make an a, A personal sacrifice.

You can sit there and build something and leave your little imprint of who you are.

Make it a little bit of a better place than you found it.

And that to me was the first objective.

And that's how you know that no matter how you want to judge it, whether the metric you want to use, if I did that, I can walk away and I can sleep well at night.

Yeah, that's that's spot on.

So and just sort of wrapping up, last question would be, you know, from Pittsburghers that are going to watch all of these interviews and shows.

What, what would you tell them.

What do you want them to take away from this experience?

And hearing you interview so many other people from Pittsburgh?

Anything's possible.

You have a passion for something.

You have this desire for something.

Don't think you can't do it.

Don't let other people dictate your future.

You dictate your future.

You're gonna hear about a lot of people who had a lot of challenges and barriers that they had to break.

There's nothing you can't do without a sense of purpose, without a sense of, sacrifice, and without a sense of confidence that you need to have and you have a passion for it.

Go get it.

You're going to see a bunch of people who may have had less than even what you had, and they've done a lot and are continuing to do more.

Yeah, I know, coach, thank you so much for for the inspiration.

You know, people that see this, understand your passion for the city, understand that Pittsburgh you are Pittsburgh wherever you take it.

And I think it really came out through these conversations.

And, you know, I hope that, as the special guest host, I did okay for you in this show, but you did.

And let's let's play homage to WQED, to Fred Rogers, the what he did, what he brought to us all growing up as well.

It's about what you can provide for people on public television.

Okay.

Which is what he did.

He gave them hope, he gave them inspiration, and he gave them a platform.

And hopefully people come away with the same sense of of that when they watch this series.

Yeah.

And, you know, on behalf of QED and all the residents in Pittsburgh, thank you for what you've accomplished and for for doing this to enlighten more people, because these are educational pieces where people are telling their story.

So as you said, somebody that had a bad day, tomorrow's a new one.

Keep fighting.

There's always opportunity and Pittsburghers are there to help you.

No matter where you go in life, you'll always find a Pittsburghe that's willing to bring you in or make that call.

And I think, you know, that's something that we want to promote nationally.

And I think by you hosting these conversations, it's it it amplifies our message that you and I know, but now the world needs to know what Pittsburgh is all about.

Awesome Corey, thank you so much, mayor.

You're the best.

Like father, like son.

You're a chip off the old block.

Well thank you, coach, and thanks for doing this.

And, we'll see you soon.

Thanks.

Take care.

Well, now that we've wrapped up, I know how some of Coach Cowher#s players feel.

He was pretty intense for that interview.

But he also has a lot of passion.

And it's passion about Pittsburgh and where he's from and a lot of pride.

It's amazing how he grew up, is how I grew up.

And millions of Pittsburghers grew up that way.

So can't wait to watch the full series and hear about Pittsburgh stories from a number of great Pittsburghers.