John Heller, Post-Gazette Steelers Coach Bill Cowher and his wife, Kaye, cheer on their daughters Lauren and Lindsay and the Fox Chapel girls' basketball team as they take on North Allegheny last night. Click photo for larger image.

Maybe some Super Bowl heroes go to Disney World. Bill Cowher went to Wexford.

Less than 24 hours after giving the Steelers one for the thumb, Cowher was standing outside a locker room at North Allegheny High School last night, waiting to give his daughters thumbs up. One day after the Steelers ruled the NFL, the coach was talking about WPIAL.

Cowher watched from the stands last night as the Fox Chapel girls' basketball defeated North Allegheny, 58-48, in a key WPIAL Class AAAA game.

The win put the Foxes one win away from the WPIAL playoffs -- and the proud father stood outside the Foxes' locker room after the game with his wife, Kaye, waiting for their two youngest daughters. Lauren Cowher, a senior guard, and Lindsay Cowher, a freshman forward, are starters for Fox Chapel.

For Bill Cowher, this was a perfect way to celebrate a Super Bowl win.

"To be honest, I was even looking forward to this [Sunday], just getting back and watching them play," Cowher said. "I enjoy watching my kids play more than anything."

When Lauren approached her father after the game, he said, "That was a big one yesterday. But this one is huge."

She replied, "Wait, yours was only big?"

	John Heller, Post-Gazette North Allegheny's Maria Nolan is surronded by Fox Chapel's Lindsay Cowher, back, and Erin Cooper. Fox Chapel won the Class AAAA Section 3 contest, 58-48. Click photo for larger image.

Bill smiled and said, "That was big. But this one was huge. And Thursday would be enormous."

Fox Chapel (14-8) needs to beat Shaler Thursday to clinch a playoff spot for only the second time in five years. Against North Allegheny, Lauren was the sparkplug for Fox Chapel, scoring a team-high 17 points and Lindsay had four.

"A lot of people don't realize that my father is such a family guy," Lauren Cowher said. "That's what he is first. A lot of coaches work long hours and sleep in their offices. We've been so fortunate because he's always put us first. He missed our games because he was at the Super Bowl last week. But honestly, those are the first games he's missed all year."

Cowher said, "I think coming here and watching kind of puts everything in perspective. ... We enjoyed yesterday and now we're enjoying this."

Cowher and his wife watched the entire junior varsity and varsity game from the stands. His presence brought out some of the Steeler Nation. Although the gym was maybe half full, athletic director Bob Bozzutto said the crowd was more than double the normal size. There were television cameras and newspaper reporters in attendance. Cowher and his wife sat in the Fox Chapel section, with a few security guards nearby along with some North Allegheny school personnel. They were to keep away the autograph hounds -- and the media.

North Allegheny's players did their pregame warm-ups in Steeler jerseys. Some North Allegheny students held up a sign that said, "Thanks for the day off Coach Cowher."

North Allegheny has canceled school today because the band will march in the Steelers parade.

But there was no special mention of Cowher. He wanted it that way. He dropped Lauren and Lindsay off at school yesterday, and asked Fox Chapel principal Ken Williams to make sure nothing special was done at the game.

"He just said, 'A compliment to me would be to just to let me be a parent,'" Williams said. "That says everything about him. He and his wife have both been awesome parents."

Kaye Cowher, "We've never been that affected by his job. When he walks in the house, it's gone.... But you can't be naive here. Life won't return back to normal because we won the game this year, and that's what we were aiming for.

"As much as Bill says it's about the journey and not the destination, I will tell you it's very fulfilling to win a game like that. But we're parents when we're here [at a basketball game] and we'd love life to go right back to where it was."