Schottenheimer, NFL coach with 200 wins, dies at 77
Marty Schottenheimer, who won 200 regular-season games with four NFL teams thanks to his “Martyball” brand of smash-mouth football but regularly fell short in the playoffs, has died. He was 77.
Schottenheimer died Monday night in Charlotte, N.C., his family said through former Kansas City Chiefs publicist Bob Moore. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014 and moved to a hospice Jan. 30.
Schottenheimer is the eighth-winningest coach in NFL history. He went 200-126-1 in 21 seasons with Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego.
“The best coach I ever had,” Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson said in a statement. “I never went into a game with Marty as coach feeling like I wasn’t fully prepared to win. … I considered him a true All-American man.”
Schottenheimer’s success was rooted in “Martyball,” a conservative approach that featured a strong running game and tough defense. He hated the then-Oakland Raiders and loved the mantra, “One play at a time,” which he’d holler at his players in the pre-kickoff huddle.
Winning in the regular season was never a problem. Schottenheimer’s teams won 10 or more games 11 times, including a glistening 14-2 record with the Chargers in 2006 that earned them the AFC’s No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
It’s what happened in January that haunted Schottenheimer, who was just 5-13 in the postseason.
His playoff demons followed him to the end of his career.
In his final game, on Jan. 14, 2007, Schottenheimer’s Chargers, featuring NFL MVP Tomlinson and a supporting cast of Pro Bowlers, imploded with mind-numbing mistakes and lost a home divisional playoff game to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, 24-21.
A month later, owner Dean Spanos stunned the NFL when he fired Schottenheimer because of a personality clash between the coach and strong-willed general manager A.J. Smith. Schottenheimer and Smith hadn’t spoken for about two years.
Spanos on Tuesday recalled Schottenheimer as “a tremendous leader of men and a man of great principle. … You couldn’t outwork him. You couldn’t out prepare him. And you certainly always knew exactly where you stood with him.”
Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt called Schottenheimer “a passionate leader who cared deeply for his players and coaches, and his influence on the game can still be seen today on a number of coaching staffs around the league.”
Schottenheimer was 44-27 with Cleveland from 198488, 101-58-1 with Kansas City from 1989-98; 8-8 with Washington in 2001 and 4733 with San Diego from 2002-06.
Former coach Bill Cowher remembered his former coach and mentor as “an amazing coach, teacher and leader. Marty, you say, ‘There’s a gleam, men,’ there is and it was always ‘YOU.’ ”
Schottenheimer is survived by his wife, Pat, and children Brian and Kristin. Brian Schottenheimer was fired as Seattle’s offensive coordinator last month and then hired by new Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer as passing game coordinator-quarterbacks coach.