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Dawn of a New Steel Age: Bill Cowher's Steelers Forge into the '90s
At the end of the 1991 season Chuck Noll had retired, and the franchise was searching for leadership into a new era. This search produced Bill Cowher, who took them farther than anyone could have dreamed in his inaugural season. The Steelers finished the 1992 NFL season with the best record in the AFC.
220 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1993
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January 16, 2023
Dawn of A New Steel Age was pretty much about the later years (mid 1980s to 1991) of the Chuck Noll era as he coached the Pittsburgh Steelers. Plus, the book dedicated a lot of pages to people who were instrumental to the success and upkeep of the Steelers organization. And lastly, the book covered the first year of the Bill Cowher era which was the 1992 season.
Some people would surmise in regard to this book, that Dawn of a New Steel Age was made because the author Ed Bouchette was bored because he was out of work, and that was because of an eight-month long (May 17, 1992 to January 18, 1993) strike at his place of employment, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. At the end of the day who cares. I enjoyed this book and I'm just glad that the author got his job back not too long after this book was published, because he's a good writer and he's very passionate about his coverage of the Steelers.
One of my favorite sentences that Bouchette wrote in this book was this, on page 43: "He walked briskly down the hall, out the front door, hopped in his car and was gone. He never glanced at the four gleaming Super Bowl trophies in the lobby as he passed them. Those are Chuck Noll's footprints." That sentence concerned the day Chuck Noll resigned as head coach of the Steelers on December 26, 1991. That's some good writing but more importantly, it was a good observation of something that a lot of people would have missed if they were there that day when Noll resigned at Steelers headquarters.
As for Cowher, he didn't get his own chapter until chapter 6. Then after that chapter ended, this book was more about his players and certain games the Steelers played in during the '92 season. Cowher may be on the front cover of this book, but this book wasn't really about him.
One of the things I really liked about this book was how Bouchette wrote full paragraphs or more on some lesser-known Steelers on the 1992 team such as running back Albert Bentley, who only played in two games in '92, and he almost got two pages written about him.
To me, I think the best chapter in this book was chapter 12, The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall, which discussed some Steelers who had some serious off the field troubles that cut into their 1992 season and beyond such as running back Tim Worley, offensive lineman Terry Long, tight end Eric Green, and others.
Then there was chapter 17, The Meanest Man in the NFL. That chapter discussed the life of former Steelers linebacker Greg Lloyd. That chapter also opened your eyes on the future of Lloyd, who had some serious domestic abuse and child endangerment offenses on his criminal record much after this book was published.
In conclusion, Dawn of A New Steel Age was an objective look at the later years of the Chuck Noll era (mid 1980s to 1991) and the first year in which Cowher took over as the Steelers' head coach. This was book was made to educate Steelers fans or at least keep them occupied with historical and current at the time (1992) information on the state of the Steelers franchise. And of course, the book was made to help the author scratch his itch for writing about Steelers football amid a newspaper strike. Either way, Dawn of A New Steel Age was a solid book on an ending era (Noll's) and the beginning of a new era (Cowher's).
Some people would surmise in regard to this book, that Dawn of a New Steel Age was made because the author Ed Bouchette was bored because he was out of work, and that was because of an eight-month long (May 17, 1992 to January 18, 1993) strike at his place of employment, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. At the end of the day who cares. I enjoyed this book and I'm just glad that the author got his job back not too long after this book was published, because he's a good writer and he's very passionate about his coverage of the Steelers.
One of my favorite sentences that Bouchette wrote in this book was this, on page 43: "He walked briskly down the hall, out the front door, hopped in his car and was gone. He never glanced at the four gleaming Super Bowl trophies in the lobby as he passed them. Those are Chuck Noll's footprints." That sentence concerned the day Chuck Noll resigned as head coach of the Steelers on December 26, 1991. That's some good writing but more importantly, it was a good observation of something that a lot of people would have missed if they were there that day when Noll resigned at Steelers headquarters.
As for Cowher, he didn't get his own chapter until chapter 6. Then after that chapter ended, this book was more about his players and certain games the Steelers played in during the '92 season. Cowher may be on the front cover of this book, but this book wasn't really about him.
One of the things I really liked about this book was how Bouchette wrote full paragraphs or more on some lesser-known Steelers on the 1992 team such as running back Albert Bentley, who only played in two games in '92, and he almost got two pages written about him.
To me, I think the best chapter in this book was chapter 12, The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall, which discussed some Steelers who had some serious off the field troubles that cut into their 1992 season and beyond such as running back Tim Worley, offensive lineman Terry Long, tight end Eric Green, and others.
Then there was chapter 17, The Meanest Man in the NFL. That chapter discussed the life of former Steelers linebacker Greg Lloyd. That chapter also opened your eyes on the future of Lloyd, who had some serious domestic abuse and child endangerment offenses on his criminal record much after this book was published.
In conclusion, Dawn of A New Steel Age was an objective look at the later years of the Chuck Noll era (mid 1980s to 1991) and the first year in which Cowher took over as the Steelers' head coach. This was book was made to educate Steelers fans or at least keep them occupied with historical and current at the time (1992) information on the state of the Steelers franchise. And of course, the book was made to help the author scratch his itch for writing about Steelers football amid a newspaper strike. Either way, Dawn of A New Steel Age was a solid book on an ending era (Noll's) and the beginning of a new era (Cowher's).
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