The moment of truth is at hand for Bill Cowher.

The Steelers conclude a disappointing 2006 season Sunday with a game at Cincinnati. Shortly thereafter, Cowher will announce whether he is staying with the Steelers or taking a sabbatical.

And, yes, it would be a sabbatical, not a retirement. This man is 49 and loves coaching football. For those who claim he's burned out, I'm not seeing it.

Take a year away from the game and Cowher becomes a coaching free agent. Plenty of teams would be interested in obtaining his services at a high price.

In the meantime, he'll follow the Princeton University women's basketball team and watch his daughters play for a year. Not a bad deal.

It's a deal Cowher probably will take.

He's been with the Steelers for 15 years, the ninth-longest tenure with one team in NFLhistory. He's won his Super Bowl. He's taken 10 teams to the playoffs, six of them to the AFCChampionship Game, two of them to the Super Bowl.

Cowher is one of only six NFLcoaches to claim eight division titles. His .627 career winning percentage going into this season was the best in Steelers' history, even higher than Chuck Noll's .566 career winning percentage.

Cowher has put together a Hall of Fame coaching career before his 50th birthday. If his impending departure is all about money — as many believe it is — who can blame him?

If the Rooneys won't give him more money, another owner will a year from now.

Assuming Cowher does leave, where do the Steelers find their next head coach? After all, this is an organization that's been ultra-successful in its last two hires in that department.

General consensus is that either offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt or assistant head coach-line coach Russ Grimm will inherit the job.

Both have been candidates for other NFLhead coaching positions in the recent past and Whisenhunt turned down the Oakland Raiders post last off-season.

Give the job to one of them and the other one moves on. Give the job to neither and they both move on.

So be it.

Whenever a pro football team changes head coaches, the overall coaching staff is overhauled regardless. Running backs coach Dick Hoak has been here forever. John Mitchell has been a defensive line coach with the Steelers since 1994.

Besides them, Whisenhunt is the only assistant coach who has been with the club for even five years.

Whisenhunt and Grimm are viable candidates to replace Cowher and should be considered if he goes. But candidates from outside the organization should be considered as well.

Great assistant coaches don't always make great head coaches. See Dick LeBeau and Mike Mularkey as examples.

Neither Noll nor Cowher was an assistant coach with the Steelers when they joined the organization as head coaches. They turned out just fine.

Hire the best man for the job, but not because he's been wearing Steelers gear on the sidelines.