Marty Schottenheimer

Marty Schottenheimer

Schottenheimer signing an autograph in August 2006.
Personal information
Date of birth	(1943-09-23) September 23, 1943
Place of birth	Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
Career information
Position(s)	Head coach Linebacker
College	Pittsburgh
NFL Draft	1965 / Round 4/ Pick 49
AFL Draft	1965 / Round 7
Career highlights
AFL All-Star	1965
Awards	2011 UFL Champion 2011 UFL Coach of the Year 2004 AP NFL Coach of Year 2004 Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of Year 2004 Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of Year 1995 UPI NCL COY (AFC) 1986 UPI AFC Coach of the Year
Head coaching record
Career record	200-126-1 (Regular Season) 5-13 (Postseason) 205-139-1 (Overall)
Championships won	2011 UFL Championship
Stats
Playing stats	DatabaseFootball
Coaching stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a player
1965-1968 1969 1970	AFL Buffalo Bills AFL Boston Patriots NFL Boston Patriots
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1974 1975-1976 1977 1978-1979 1980-1984 1984-1988 1989-1998 2001 2002-2006 2011	Portland Storm (WFL) (linebackers coach) New York Giants (linebackers coach) New York Giants (defensive coordinator) Detroit Lions (linebackers coach) Cleveland Browns (defensive coordinator) Cleveland Browns (head coach) Kansas City Chiefs (head coach) Washington Redskins (head coach) San Diego Chargers (head coach) Virginia Destroyers (head coach/general manager)

Martin Edward "Marty" Schottenheimer (/ˈʃɒtənhaɪmər/; born September 23, 1943) is a former professional American football player and coach. Over his career, he has served as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, and San Diego Chargers. He has the most wins of any NFL coach since 1966 to never coach a team in a Super Bowl (which was first held in that year). He was fired from his head coaching position with the San Diego Chargers in 2007, after leading the Chargers to a 14–2 record but a disappointing second round loss. He later emerged as the head coach of the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League, where he would win his only championship as a coach in his lone season there.

Pro football playing career

Schottenheimer was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania. Marty attended high school at Fort Cherry High School in McDonald, Pennsylvania. After attending the University of Pittsburgh, Schottenheimer, a linebacker, was selected in the fourth round of the 1965 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts and in the seventh round of the 1965 American Football League draft by the Buffalo Bills. He signed with the Bills and spent the next four (1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968) seasons with Buffalo, including the Bills' 1965 AFL Championship season, when he was selected to the AFL All-Star Team. In 1969, he joined the Boston Patriots and spent the next two seasons with the Pats. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1971 but was traded again to the Colts before the beginning of the 1971 season. He retired from football in 1971 and spent the next several years working in the real estate industry. Schottenheimer credits his professional playing career as being his inspiration for coaching.

Pro football coaching career

Schottenheimer's professional coaching career began in 1974 when he became linebackers coach for the Portland Storm of the World Football League. In 1975 he was hired as a linebackers coach for the NFL's New York Giants and in 1977 became defensive coordinator. Schottenheimer spent 1978 and 1979 as the linebackers coach for the NFL's Detroit Lions.

Cleveland Browns

In 1980, he was hired as the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. Schottenheimer became Cleveland's head coach midway through the 1984 season, replacing fired head coach Sam Rutigliano. Schottenheimer would remain with the Browns until 1988, amassing a 44-27 (.620) regular-season record and a 2-4 (.333) mark in the playoffs, including four playoff appearances, three AFC Central Division titles, and two trips to the AFC Championship Game (both against the Denver Broncos).

Kansas City Chiefs

Schottenheimer spent 10 seasons as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, from 1989 to 1998 recording a 101-58-1 regular season record (.634) and had three division titles, seven playoff appearances, and a trip to the AFC Championship game in 1993, losing to the Buffalo Bills. After a disappointing 7–9 season in 1998, Schottenheimer resigned as Chiefs head coach on January 11, 1999.

Washington Redskins

After working as a football analyst for ESPN from 1999 to 2000, Schottenheimer was hired as head coach of the Washington Redskins for the 2001 season. Schottenheimer's Redskins became the first team in NFL history to win five consecutive games immediately after losing its first five games. The Redskins won eight of their final eleven games to narrowly miss the post season. Despite this momentum, in a controversial move, Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Redskins, fired Schottenheimer on January 13, 2002 after just one 8–8 season to make room for former University of Florida head coach Steve Spurrier.

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers hired Schottenheimer as their 13th head coach on January 29, 2002. Schottenheimer posted a 47–33 record (.588) with the Chargers. His success didn't come immediately, as the team posted a 4–12 record in 2003, thereby "earning" the first overall pick in the draft (this was the last time that a team with the worst record in the NFL kept its head coach the following season, even considering the three other 4–12 teams that season replaced their head coaches, Oakland, Arizona, and the New York Giants hiring Norv Turner, Dennis Green, and Tom Coughlin, respectively). He was named NFL Coach of the Year for the 2004 NFL season. Schottenheimer led the team to two playoff appearances, his 12th and 13th as a head coach. However, both appearances resulted in disappointing losses; to the underdog New York Jets in overtime in 2005, and to the New England Patriots in 2007, bringing his playoff record to 5 – 13.

Schottenheimer was abruptly fired by San Diego on February 12, 2007. Reasons for his firing include a strained relationship with general manager A. J. Smith, which reached a breaking point when four assistants (Cam Cameron, Wade Phillips, Rob Chudzinski and Greg Manusky) left for positions with other teams. These coaches all left to pursue higher level opportunities with other teams, which cannot be prevented by the team they are leaving under NFL rules; two of them became head coaches, instead of merely making a lateral move to the same position with another team.

Jim Trotter, of the San Diego Union Tribune, also believes that Schottenheimer's insistence that his brother, Kurt Schottenheimer, replace Phillips as the defensive coordinator further strained the relationship between team president Dean Spanos and Schottenheimer. Spanos had always been against the idea of allowing relatives to be on the same coaching staff, even though Schottenheimer's son Brian was the Chargers' quarterbacks coach. Schottenheimer even went as far to book a flight to San Diego for his brother, Kurt, against Spanos' wishes. This act of defiance increased the gap between Spanos and Schottenheimer.

Dean Spanos released a statement saying "Our fans deserve to know what changed for me over the last month. When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact. Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager. In short, this entire process over the last month convinced me beyond any doubt that I had to act to change this untenable situation and create an environment where everyone at Charger Park would be pulling in the same direction and working at a championship level. I expect exactly that from our entire Charger organization in 2007."

Schottenheimer was still owed $4 million for the final year of his contract, as the firing was "without cause". Schottenheimer was replaced as San Diego head coach by Norv Turner - coincidentally the last full-time head coach the Redskins had before Schottenheimer's arrival. Following the Chargers' subsequent 1-3 start the next season, fans at Qualcomm Stadium voiced their displeasure with the firing by chanting "Marty! Marty! Marty!" In his NFL coaching career, 17 coaches have been hired by teams that had previously had him, and all but the Chargers have a losing record in their post-Schottenheimer eras.

Virginia Destroyers (UFL)

In March 2011, the Virginia Destroyers hired Schottenheimer to be their first head coach and general manager, at the age of 67. In order to lure Schottenheimer to the Destroyers, league majority owner William Hambrecht personally guaranteed he would pay Schottenheimer's $1.1 million salary for the eight-game season. He led the Destroyers to a 3-1 record in the shortened 2011 regular season, earning a playoff berth with home-field advantage in his first season. Schottenheimer's efforts earned him the 2011 United Football League Coach of the Year award. His starting running back, Dominic Rhodes, was also named the MVP of the 2011 UFL season.

On October 21, 2011, the Virginia Destroyers defeated the two-time defending UFL Champion Las Vegas Locomotives 17-3 in the 2011 UFL Championship Game at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. It was Schottenheimer's first ever championship as a coach.

Schottenheimer abruptly resigned from the Destroyers shortly before the 2012 season, citing discomfort over unspecified issues facing the team that season and the failure of the team to meet also-unspecified conditions for his return. Schottenheimer later sued Hambrecht after not receiving any of the money he was owed.

Television work

Soon after being replaced as head coach of the San Diego Chargers, he was hired by ESPN to work as an NFL Insider on the network, returning to a role he had served in between his coaching stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Redskins. He's recently been seen on SportsCenter and NFL Live.

Head coaching record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
CLE	1984	4	4	0	.500	3rd in AFC Central	-	-	-	-
CLE	1985	8	8	0	.500	1st in AFC Central	0	1	.000	Lost to Miami Dolphins in Divisional Game.
CLE	1986	12	4	0	.750	1st in AFC Central	1	1	.500	Lost to Denver Broncos in AFC Championship Game.
CLE	1987	10	5	0	.667	1st in AFC Central	1	1	.500	Lost to Denver Broncos in AFC Championship Game.
CLE	1988	10	6	0	.625	2nd in AFC Central	0	1	.000	Lost to Houston Oilers in AFC Wild-Card Game.
CLE Total		44	27	0	.620		2	4	.333
KC	1989	8	7	1	.533	2nd in AFC West	-	-	-	-
KC	1990	11	5	0	.688	2nd in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Miami Dolphins in Wild Card Game.
KC	1991	10	6	0	.625	2nd in AFC West	1	1	.500	Lost to Buffalo Bills in Divisional Game.
KC	1992	10	6	0	.625	2nd in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to San Diego Chargers in Wild Card Game.
KC	1993	11	5	0	.688	1st in AFC West	2	1	.667	Lost to Buffalo Bills in AFC Championship.
KC	1994	9	7	0	.563	2nd in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Miami Dolphins in AFC Wild-Card Game.
KC	1995	13	3	0	.813	1st in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Indianapolis Colts in AFC Divisional Game.
KC	1996	9	7	0	.563	2nd in AFC West	-	-	-	-
KC	1997	13	3	0	.813	1st in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Denver Broncos in AFC Divisional Game.
KC	1998	7	9	0	.438	4th in AFC West	-	-	-	-
KC Total		101	58	1	.635		3	7	.300
WAS	2001	8	8	0	.500	2nd in NFC East	-	-	-	-
WAS Total		8	8	0	.500		-	-	-	-
SD	2002	8	8	0	.500	3rd in AFC West	-	-	-	-
SD	2003	4	12	0	.250	4th in AFC West	-	-	-	-
SD	2004	12	4	0	.750	1st in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to New York Jets in AFC Wild-Card Game.
SD	2005	9	7	0	.563	3rd in AFC West	-	-	-	-
SD	2006	14	2	0	.875	1st in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to New England Patriots in AFC Divisional Game.
SD Total		47	33	0	.588		0	2	.000
VIR	2011	3	1	0	.750	1st in UFL	1	0	1.000	Beat Las Vegas Locomotives in UFL Championship Game
VIR Total		3	1	0	.750		1	0	1.000
Total		203	127	1	.606		6	13	.315

Schottenheimer coaching tree

Schottenheimer was heavily influenced by Lou Saban, his first professional head coach in the American Football League. In turn, several current NFL Head Coaches trace their lineage back to Marty Schottenheimer on his Coaching tree:

Schottenheimer gave many head coaches their first coaching jobs. All of these coaches have coached under Schottenheimer:

• Bill Cowher, Pittsburgh Steelers (1992-2006)
• Gunther Cunningham, Kansas City Chiefs
• Tony Dungy, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, (1996-2001), and Indianapolis Colts (2002-2008)
• Lindy Infante, Green Bay Packers (1988–1991)
• Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers
• Herman Edwards, New York Jets; Kansas City Chiefs
• Cam Cameron, Baltimore Ravens
• Wade Phillips, Denver Broncos; Bufallo Bills; Dallas Cowboys
• Tony Sparano, Miami Dolphins

Schottenheimer's son Brian was the New York Jets offensive coordinator before announcing his intent to leave in January 2012. When the Jets defeated the San Diego Chargers in the 2009 Divisional Playoffs, Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan sent Marty the game ball as a friendly gesture regarding the team that had fired him three years earlier. Brian later became the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams.

Schottenheimer's younger brother Kurt coached the Green Bay Packers' secondary from 2006 to 2008 before he was fired. Kurt is now serving as Marty's successor as head coach with the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL (this is not reflected in the above tree, which shows only NFL-based relationships).

See also

• Other American Football League players
• Marty Ball, a type of coaching that is known as being conservative.

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by Dick Modzelewski	Cleveland Browns Defensive Coordinator 1980 – October 22, 1984	Succeeded by Dave Adolph