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.
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, North Carolina, 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 was the eighth-winningest coach in NFL history. He went 200-126-1 in 21 seasons with Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego. Related His 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 LaDainian 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. A breaking point for Spanos — head of the family owned team — came when Schottenheimer wanted to hire brother Kurt as defensive coordinator after Wade Phillips was hired away as Dallas’ head coach. Kurt Schottenheimer had been on his brother’s previous staffs, and Marty Schottenheimer’s son, Brian, had been Chargers quarterbacks coach from 2002-05. Schottenheimer then moved to North Carolina to spend time with his family and golf. Schottenheimer was 44-27 with Cleveland from 1984-88,101-58-1 with Kansas City from 1989-98; 8-8 with Washington in 2001 and 47-33 with San Diego from 2002-06. “Marty was a tremendous leader of men and a man of great principle — the love and admiration his former players have for him to this day speak volumes,” Chargers owner and chairman of the board Dean Spanos said in a statement.
