PITTSBURGH — Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Cowher believes Steelers president Art Rooney II made a home run hire when he named Omar Khan as the new general manager.
Cowher coached the Steelers from 1992-2006 and worked alongside Khan for six of those years when he was cutting his teeth as a young executive. Khan's long tenure with the Steelers and his experience of the inner workings of the franchise are the reasons Cowher believes he was the right person to succeed Kevin Colbert and usher the Steelers into a new era.
"Understanding the dynamics of the building is really important, and Omar knows that," Cowher said. "With the Steelers, it always comes down to collaborating. There's going to be a new structure and new faces, but it's going to be a collaborative effort. Mike Tomlin will be a big part of everything they do. That's why it's going to be a seamless transition from Kevin to Omar. He's worked with Mike for the last 15 years. It's a great move."
Khan, 45, has been one of the NFL's rising young front office executives for years. Every time a general manager's position came open across the league over the past decade, Khan's name would be involved in the search. He interviewed for the Chicago vacancy in January and had interviews with Houston, Miami and the New York Jets in recent years.
Cowher, who now works as an analyst for CBS, said Khan's ability to relate to people is why he is so well-respected by other owners in addition to the Rooney family.
"When you listen to him, he has humility and he has a vision," Cowher said. "He's been with the Steelers since 2001. He understands the history of the organization. You respect the history of each team you walk into. You build off the strengths of everyone in the building. He's paid his dues, and now he'll put his fingerprints on the organization."
Cowher worked under a similar power structure in the second half of his tenure as head coach. When Colbert was hired in 2000, he and Cowher had a collaborative relationship that led the Steelers to three AFC title games over a five-year span and culminated with a victory in Super Bowl XL following the 2005 season.
Tomlin and Colbert had a similar relationship for the past 15 seasons, and Cowher said Khan and Tomlin can develop similar chemistry.
Khan does not have a background in personnel decisions like Colbert did. He spent the past two decades as the Steelers' top contract negotiator and salary cap specialist on the business side of the organization, but Cowher said there were times he dabbled on the player personnel side, as well.
"He got involved in the draft and free agent acquisitions and how the cap affected that," Cowher said. "When you manage the cap, you have to understand everything about the team. Omar understood that from the very beginning."
