(born
September 23 ,
1943 in
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania ) is an
American Football coach. He is currently serving as an NFL analyst on
ESPN . Over his career, he has served as head coach of the
Cleveland Browns ,
Kansas City Chiefs ,
Washington Redskins , and
San Diego Chargers . He holds the peculiar distinction of being the NFL coach with the most wins in the Super Bowl era (1966 to present) to never coach a team in a
Super Bowl . 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 after a first round bye in the playoffs.
After college, 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 NFL career as being his inspiration for coaching.
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 .
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 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 .
Schottenheimer spent 10 seasons as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from
1989 to
1998 recording an impressive 101-58-1 regular season record (.634) including 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 .
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. 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 .
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 3 other 4-12 teams that season replaced their head coaches, Oakland, Arizona, and the New York Giants hiring Norv Turner, Dennis Green, and Tom Coughiin, respectively). He was named NFL Coach Of The Year for the
2004 NFL Season . Schottenheimer led the team to 2 playoff appearances, his 17th and 18th as a head coach. However, both appearances resulted in disappointing losses to the underdog
New York Jets in overtime in
2005 and 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 GM A.J. Smith, which reached a breaking point when 4 assistants (
Cam Cameron ,
Wade Phillips ,
Rob Chudzinski and
Greg Manusky ) left for positions with other teams.
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 Spanos and Schottenheimer. Team president
Dean Spanos had always been against the idea of allowing relatives to be on the same coaching staff. 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.http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070218/news_lz1s18martys.html
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."
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Schottenheimer is still owed $4 million for the final year of his contract, as the firing was "without cause".
{Link without Title} Schottenheimer was replaced as San Diego head coach by
Norv Turner .
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 station, returning to a role he had served in between his coaching stints with the
Washington Redskins and the
San Diego Chargers . He's currently been seen on
SportsCenter and
NFL Live .
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:
His son
Brian Schottenheimer is the
New York Jets Offensive Coordinator and his younger brother
Kurt Schottenheimer coaches the Green Bay Packers' secondary.
