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Marty Schottenheimer was greatest Browns coach of our generation

By Elliot Kennel

CLEVELAND, OH - CIRCA 1987: Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Cleveland Browns talks with his quarterback Bernie Kosar #19 during an NFL football game circa 1987 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. Schottenheimer was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1984-88. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - CIRCA 1987: Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Cleveland Browns talks with his quarterback Bernie Kosar #19 during an NFL football game circa 1987 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. Schottenheimer was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1984-88. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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Marty Schottenheimer
SAN DIEGO, CA – DECEMBER 12: Head coach Marty Schottenheimer of the San Diego Chargers signals a first down during his team’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 12, 2004 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) /

San Diego:  who gets fired at 14-2?

The San Diego Chargers offered Schottenheimer another shot at redemption. Things did not go well at first. After an 8-8 initial season in 2002, the team drooped to 4-12 in 2003. The 2004 team drafted Philip Rivers in the first round, giving them Drew Brees, Rivers, and Doug Flutie in the same quarterback room. That’s not too shabby. They went 12-4 that season, and yet still lost the Wild Card 20-17 to the Jets. The next season they missed the playoffs at 9-7, and then they seemed to put it together at 14-2, with Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson both having phenomenal years.

But then they managed to blow an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots (that happens a lot in the NFL).

However, Marty was feuding with general manager A.J. Smith and team president Dean Spanos. Also, the coaching staff self-destructed because four assistant coaches Cam Cameron, Wade Phillips, Rob Chudzinski, and Greg Manusky were hired away by other teams. Marty wanted to hire his brother Kurt to replace Phillips, against the wishes of Spanos. As a result, Marty was out.

Marty would eventually win a championship, for the United Football League in 2011. The UFL was an alternative league composed primarily of former fringe NFL players. Marty continued to be in demand for radio and TV thereafter, until the Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2014.

Everywhere he went, the people that he met really loved him.  This writer can not claim to be a close friend, but just in casual conversation with his former Browns players at Browns Backers events, like Earnest Byner, Bernie Kosar, Kevin Mack, and Hanford Dixon, it is clear that they really loved Marty Schottenheimer.  It was far more than just the professional respect due to him as a coach.

"“He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet"

Next. 3 Players who could fix LB problem. dark

Thank you coach, you and your family will be forever in our hearts.

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