Bill Cowher will not have a say in the Steelers' draft for the first time in 16 years, although he will be close by this week.

Cowher will arrive in Pittsburgh tomorrow from his home in Raleigh, N.C., to take care of some business capped Friday night when he receives the History Makers Award for Leadership at the Westin Convention Center Hotel. The award is presented by the Senator John Heinz History Center.

By the time the draft starts at noon Saturday, Cowher will be on his way back to Raleigh. And, no, he has not been asked for any advice about prospects by his former co-workers with the Steelers.

"No. Are you kidding me?" he asked.

The former Steelers coach does not know what he will do with himself when the draft starts Saturday without him for the first time since he entered NFL coaching in 1985 with the Cleveland Browns. He'll either watch on TV or travel to Charlotte, N.C., where his youngest daughter, Lindsay, will compete in an AAU basketball tournament.

Life is good these days for Cowher, who resigned as coach of the Steelers after last season. So good, in fact, that he said he could envision never coaching again.

"I'm staying very open-minded," said Cowher, who turns 50 May 8. "I never want to say never because that can come back and haunt you. But I can foresee not coming back ever. I just won't etch it in stone."

He has discovered that after nearly four months away from the game, he does not miss it yet and is happy with his decision to step away from football.

"I'm very happy," Cowher said. "I don't second-guess it at all. I guess it has reaffirmed more than anything, being down here. I still haven't experienced a whole season or August when training camp's going on. But I feel great.

"I have really enjoyed spending time with Kaye and Lindsay. It's been good, you know? I realized it was much needed after I got down here. I didn't know what it would entail, didn't know what you're going to do. I can honestly say it's gone much smoother than I anticipated."

Cowher, an incessant racquetball player, has found some new partners in Raleigh, although they are working stiffs so they play at 6:30 a.m. three times a week. On days he's not playing, he drives Lindsay to school. He plays golf.

"What do I do during the day? I don't know. Every day is different. My wife and I are doing things we haven't done before, and we're actually getting along doing it. We went to Charleston, S.C. and Beaufort, S.C., which was really kind of neat."

He has talked to Dan Rooney to congratulate him on his Dapper Dan Lifetime Achievement Award, and to his former partner in the draft, Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations, but little about football.

"I saw some of the mock drafts, I've kept up with it a little bit," Cowher said. "I might watch it, or I might fly down to Charlotte.

"I guess I feel no different now than the day I retired. It's been good. The weather's been good."

Will he return to coach in a year or two, as many have speculated?

"I don't have any plans right now, honestly," Cowher said. "I'm looking forward to the fall and doing the thing with CBS. It's not going to take up a lot of time."

And that's something Cowher has plenty of these days.