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Why Did Marty Schottenheimer Never Get Another Chance To Coach?


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it's not like the Chargers were so hot without him. They had a great team that lost in the playoffs a couple years straight under Marty. He gets canned. And the Chargers seriously regress for the next few years.

 

I guess ya can't lose playoff games if you don't have a winning coach making playoff games Chargers! I always think those are stupid moves if you don't have a clear upgrade available to win at the same clip Marty did.

 

The general manager over there was the star of the show though. Very talented teams during Marty's tenure.

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1 hour ago, Phil The Thrill said:

I remember when the Bills Rick Jauron In 2009.  Knowing Ralph’s tendencies to turn to former Bills, I was really hoping that he’d hire Mary Schottenheimer to coach.  I thought that he would be perfect considering he has history with the Bills, but more importantly, he was a veteran coach with a proven record of success in the league.  

 

Instead I found out that Ralph apparently had issues with Marty back when he was a player decades ago.  An unfortunately instead of hiring a coach with a .613 winning percentage, he hired a coach who now has a .425 winning percentage and never was a HC again!

 

It got me thinking though, why didn’t any other NFL team give Marty another shot at HC.  Everywhere that he coached (sans 1 8-8 year in Washington which included a big win streak at the end of the year) he was a winner for two decades. Yes he did struggle in the postseason, but some other coaches have had the same issues (Andy Reid). He also turned around three different franchises, most recently San Diego. I remember in 2006, when they fired him after a 14-2 start much to the fans anger.

 

So why did the NFL never give Marty another shot to lead a team?  It couldn’t be his age.   At the time of his firing in SD, he would have been 62.  Not young by any means, but just about the same age as Dick Vermeil when he was hired by the Rams, and a few years younger than Vermiel when KC hired him.  Oh yeah...Dick Vermeil’s winning percentage?  .525

 

Clearly it wasn’t Marty’s choice to not coach.  He ended up coaching in the semi-pro UFL.  Not surprisingly he was the championship.  

 

A lot of coaches have been hired and fired in the NFL who havent had anywhere near the success that Marty did.  It’s a damn shame that Marty never got a chance.  And that other chance probably should have been in Buffalo.  

 

 

 

 

Did you happen to place a 5k bet on Minnesota to win earlier this season ? =)

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1 hour ago, Phil The Thrill said:

 

Right, I’m not advocating that he coaches in 2018.  But he should’ve got a shot in 2006 after SD

I think so as well. All the top AFC Dawgs had bad records losing to the Patriots during his tenure. Got fired after 14-2 and lost to the Patriots on a TD Tom 4th quarter drive. 

 

Merriman didn't have enough juice on the sidelines I guess.

Edited by PetermanThrew5Picks
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1 hour ago, blacklabel said:

He's the man behind the term "Martyball" which is what people around the league called his style of playing. Once his teams had a lead, he would try to protect the lead instead of trying to add to it. He'd play everything extremely hesitant and conservatively, not unlike Dickie Jauron. 

 

Guy had numerous chances and did, at times, try to break away from his typical style but by that time the league had kinda passed him by.

 

Of course the opposite approach cost Atlanta a Super Bowl so there's always a balance.

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....there was a very astute, highly respected and coaching connected poster on BBMB who knew Marty personally.......I think he said Marty lived in NC........unfortunately he knew about the onset of Marty's condition before it was officially announced......maybe from his playing days as a LB and CTE related......sad....AJ the Turd's ego got in the way and he fired him after 14-2 season...SADDER, but AJ....

 

In 2011, Schottenheimer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. By the time the diagnosis was announced publicly in 2016, it had progressed slowly and he still maintained much of his memory and function, and he was about to begin experimental treatment to slow the progression of the disease even further.[46]

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10 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

 

Of course the opposite approach cost Atlanta a Super Bowl so there's always a balance.

I don't think there's a surefire approach. I'd hazard coaches just need to be willing to go either route and not stick to one way to protect a lead. If Falcons HC was winning regular season games playing that way he might have blindly adhered to that system despite the fact that his whole team was ****ting their pants. Read your team. If they confident, take some risks to seal the deal. If they look like the Falcons did.. don't let em shoot themselves in the foot because they forgot there were 2 halves in football and play conservatively to give yourself the best chance. Most coaches go with philosophy over game flow seems like.

 

I guess sometimes trust your players to win games but know the time when to take over knowing coaching can cover up a lack of confidence.

 

Doug Pederson played an excellent game just knowing his boys were up for the challenge. Pete Carroll likely shouldn't pass it to that WR as he did NOT look confident and got bullied to the ball playing with no aggression. I thought the down, distance and time called for a conservative pass and on paper wasn't a horrible idea. But who was it.. Tyler Lockett?? Certainly looked shook when his number was called that he couldn't even contest the ball to force a PBU instead of an interception. Look the man in the eyes and judge if he ready. I know Marshawn had no nerves.. too much of a block head to really care about any game situation. Dude's a gamer. Heck I would have called the slant to Marshawn.

Edited by PetermanThrew5Picks
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i remember some fan of Marty at work boasting about how he was going to put it to Belichick in the playoffs

 

i think it was a horribly botched FG decision by Marty

 

as if it was ever in doubt what was gonna happen....

 

 

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19 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

 

Of course the opposite approach cost Atlanta a Super Bowl so there's always a balance.

 

I hear you. The mistake Atlanta made was continuing to throw the ball late in the game. Incompletions stopped the clock and left too much time for Brady. There's definitely a balance. When you're up by a few points late in the game, yeah, at that point you probably play to protect the lead or play to at least get a field goal to add to your lead a little bit. Coaches like Schottenheimer and others would go into preservation mode midway through the 3rd quarter if they had a lead. Or you have Jauron's style of "keep the score low and close and hope we can sneak out with a win in the end." 

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20 minutes ago, Talley56 said:

I very much agree with the OP on this.  And while I agree that he faltered in the playoffs given our hope at the time to just finally become a playoff contender again I would have thought we would have been the perfect landing spot for him.

 

there is always a minivan filled with coaches who are very good at squeezing out a few extra wins in the regular season from a team that is on the rise

 

 

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In the 2009 off season Buddy Nix wanted to hire Marty for the Bills HCing job and he desperately wanted the job in Buffalo too. Seems Nix worked in San Diego with and Shotty they knew each other. Bills owner Ralph Wilson said no and that was that.

 

It was well known at the time that Wilson had to have complete control over everyone and that included his head coach. It was noted that Wilson was on the phone with Jauron for hours every day during the season. Marty wouldn't have gone along with that for100% certainty and Wilson knew it.  

 

My thoughts are that Marty lost a power struggle with GM with AJ Smith and part of that involved Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers as Marty wanted to keep Brees and Smith said no. Smith drafted the taller 6'5'' Rivers and wanted him as the starter. Actually the team drafted Eli Manning but he refused to play for the Chargers so they traded QBs with the NY Giants.

 

Marty was fired after the 2006 season and after a 14-2 season. The Chargers (AJ Smith) then hired Norv Turner who turned them into poop after 6 years as HC. 

 

For whatever reason I think Schottenheimer was blackballed by the owners kinda like Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed now only for a different reason. 

 

 

** On a side note Bill Polain stated he would have hired AJ Smith as his GM if hired in Buffalo as their czar/team president. On another note, Doug Marrone told Polian after he left as the Bills HC that both Whaley/Brandon were badmouthing him to the new owners and stated it was a bad situation with Russ Brandon involved in the football operations. 

Edited by Nihilarian
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2 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

In the 2009 off season Buddy Nix wanted to hire Marty for the Bills HCing job and he desperately wanted the job in Buffalo too. Seems Nix worked in San Diego with and Shotty they knew each other. Bills owner Ralph Wilson said no and that was that.

 

It was well known at the time that Wilson had to have complete control over everyone and that included his head coach. It was noted that Wilson was on the phone with Jauron for hours every day during the season. Marty wouldn't have gone along with that for100% certainty and Wilson knew it.  

 

My thoughts are that Marty lost a power struggle with GM with AJ Smith and part of that involved Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers as Marty wanted to keep Brees and Smith said no. Smith drafted the taller 6'5'' Rivers and wanted him as the starter. Actually the team drafted Eli Manning but he refused to play for the Chargers so they traded QBs with the NY Giants.

 

Marty was fired after the 2006 season and after a 14-2 season. The Chargers (AJ Smith) then hired Norv Turner who turned them into poop after 6 years as HC. 

 

For whatever reason I think Schottenheimer was blackballed by the owners kinda like Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed now only for a different reason. 

 

 

** On a side note Bill Polain stated he would have hired AJ Smith as his GM if hired in Buffalo as their czar/team president. On another note, Doug Marrone told Polian after he left as the Bills HC that both Whaley/Brandon were badmouthing him to the new owners and stated it was a bad situation with Russ Brandon involved in the football operations. 

 

....would not surprise me one bit if that scurrilous slug AJ Smith gave RW an earful........

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19 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Marty had a gleam, men! A gleam!

 

DOi77c7VQAAdJwh.jpg

 

I was a big fan of those 80’s Browns teams with Marty when I was a kid, they had a quality gritty, grimy personality about them. Gave me something to cheer for before the Bills got good in the late 80’s.

 

My Gramps liked the Browns from the AAFC days, and he loved the fact they came into the NFL and dominated back then.

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15 minutes ago, 4_kidd_4 said:

 

I was a big fan of those 80’s Browns teams with Marty when I was a kid, they had a quality gritty, grimy personality about them. Gave me something to cheer for before the Bills got good in the late 80’s.

 

My Gramps liked the Browns from the AAFC days, and he loved the fact they came into the NFL and dominated back then.

Me, too. I’d have liked to see his Browns teams go to a SB or two. But they had some of the worst playoff luck imaginable. Cleveland will never forget “The Drive” and “The Fumble.” Those demons wont be fully exorcized until they win it all. I think they’ve finally got the QB to get there, too.

 

Your gramps saw some of the greatest of all time, too.  Marion Motley and Otto Graham are fun to watch in those old clips.

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39 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

In the 2009 off season Buddy Nix wanted to hire Marty for the Bills HCing job and he desperately wanted the job in Buffalo too. Seems Nix worked in San Diego with and Shotty they knew each other. Bills owner Ralph Wilson said no and that was that.

 

It was well known at the time that Wilson had to have complete control over everyone and that included his head coach. It was noted that Wilson was on the phone with Jauron for hours every day during the season. Marty wouldn't have gone along with that for100% certainty and Wilson knew it.  

 

My thoughts are that Marty lost a power struggle with GM with AJ Smith and part of that involved Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers as Marty wanted to keep Brees and Smith said no. Smith drafted the taller 6'5'' Rivers and wanted him as the starter. Actually the team drafted Eli Manning but he refused to play for the Chargers so they traded QBs with the NY Giants.

 

Marty was fired after the 2006 season and after a 14-2 season. The Chargers (AJ Smith) then hired Norv Turner who turned them into poop after 6 years as HC. 

 

For whatever reason I think Schottenheimer was blackballed by the owners kinda like Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed now only for a different reason. 

 

 

** On a side note Bill Polain stated he would have hired AJ Smith as his GM if hired in Buffalo as their czar/team president. On another note, Doug Marrone told Polian after he left as the Bills HC that both Whaley/Brandon were badmouthing him to the new owners and stated it was a bad situation with Russ Brandon involved in the football operations. 

 

If this is true then I have more respect for Buddy.   Also it would show, again, how Ralph was not a great owner by the end of his tenure. 

 

I thought the hiring of Gailey was just so inspiring.  

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I could be wrong about this... but didn't he try to force his son (Brian) into the picture after his tenure in San Diego?  Obviously, Brian has gone on be a successful coach, but he was just starting out when Marty was let go by the Chargers.  My memory is he also tried to force his brother into the D coordinator spot with the Chargers

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