Twenty years ago, Bill Cowher won a front-office battle with director of football operations Tom Donahoe to stick with the Steelers.
The two men had become like oil and water. They could no longer coexist, with Donahoe trying to exert control over Cowher as if he were his boss, while Cowher balking at those overtures.
Dan Rooney, deciding it was easier to find a new director of football operations -- in essence, a general manager -- let Donahoe go, hiring Pittsburgh native Kevin Colbert, then a 42-year-old director of pro scouting with the Lions, as his replacement.