Bill Cowher’s decision to select Ben Roethlisberger with the No. 11 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft changed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback picture. However, the move was not welcomed by then-starting quarterback Tommy Maddox, who made sure to let Bill Cowher know of thoughts. The former head coach recalled the heated confrontation that followed the selection of Big Ben.

“We drafted Ben Roethlisberger, and Tommy Maddox comes into my office the next day, like, ‘You told me we weren’t gonna draft a quarterback,’” Cowher said on the Coach2Coach podcast. “And he’s yelling at me for like 20 minutes. It was yelling. And I just finally said, ‘Are you done? Are you done? Okay, now that you’re done, let me just speak.’

“And I said, ‘You’re the starting quarterback. And the fact that you’re so bothered that another quarterback is in here makes me think that maybe you shouldn’t be the starting quarterback, because you can’t handle the pressure.’ I said. … I mean, it’s your job. I’m gonna tell you: you better handle it properly, which is, you know what? You take care of you; I’ll take care of the team. We got a young quarterback for the future. I don’t think he’s ready right now. I think you could teach him something—but not when you come in here rampaging like that.”

Tommy Maddox had run Pittsburgh’s offense for two straight seasons, and he was the 2002 Comeback Player of the Year. He took over from Kordell Stewart at quarterback. Going into the draft, Maddox had been led to believe the Steelers wanted a right tackle to keep him upright, his agent told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

So when they used their pick on a quarterback instead, it hit him hard, because it raised an obvious question about how long the starting job would stay his. Money was part of the sting too.

At 33, he’d been hoping for a raise on his $750,000 salary, the lowest of any veteran starting quarterback in the league, and Roethlisberger’s arrival made that hope look shaky.

Three days after Pittsburgh drafted Roethlisberger, Cowher met Maddox. Maddox reportedly walked out of the team’s training complex without a word to reporters, and whatever was said behind closed doors never came out.

Cowher now says he met the frustration head-on, and he did not soften his message.

His point was clear. Maddox still had the job, but he had to prove he could handle the pressure.

Cowher’s caution about readiness made sense. Roethlisberger arrived with limited experience, having played quarterback for only one year in high school, and leaving Miami (Ohio) after his junior season. But Cowher was willing to make the gamble.

“When you look at him athletically, a lot of people have talked about athletically he may have a lot better attributes than some of the other two picked in front of him, but I think certainly the experience factor, certainly the questions of where he played,” Cowher said of him on draft day, per the Steelers’ official website.

“I think this kid has a lot of upside. Again, the thing he lacks is experience. I think he’s only going to get better the more he plays.”

Still, the wait was short. Maddox started the first two games of 2004. Maddox started the first two games of 2004, beating the Raiders 24-21 and then losing to the Ravens 30-13. But an elbow sprain knocked him out of the Baltimore game in the third quarter. Roethlisberger, who was actually third in the depth chart (Charlie Batch was dealing with a knee injury), took over as QB1. Maddox was sidelined until November.

Roethlisberger won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2004, and Pittsburgh won all 13 regular-season games he started. The rest is history, and the Steelers released him in March 2006.

Roethlisberger went on to lead the Steelers to two Super Bowl titles and earned six Pro Bowl selections. He retired in 2022 after spending his entire career in Pittsburgh. He remains the Steelers’ longest-tenured quarterback, starting 247 games.

Looking back, Cowher’s blunt talk with Maddox was less about conflict and more about setting the tone for a quarterback room in transition.