page_title: Marty Schottenheimer
section_title: San Diego Chargers
hierarchical_section_title: Marty Schottenheimer / Coaching career / San Diego Chargers
caption_attribution_description: English: Marty Schottenheimer poses with a young Chargers fan
context_page_description: Martin Edward Schottenheimer is a former American football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League for 21 seasons. He was the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs for 10 seasons, the Cleveland Browns for five seasons, the San Diego Chargers for five seasons, and the Washington Redskins for one season. Eighth in all-time wins at 205 and seventh in regular season wins at 200, Schottenheimer has the most wins of a head coach to not win a championship in the NFL. After coaching in the NFL, he won a 2011 championship in his one season with the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League. He was inducted to the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame in 2010.
  Schottenheimer's tenure as an NFL head coach was marked by consistent regular season success and postseason struggles. During the course of over two decades, he went 14 seasons before posting a losing record and had only two seasons with more losses than wins. However, Schottenheimer won only five of the 18 postseason games he appeared in and never advanced beyond the conference championship round of the playoffs.
context_section_description: 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. He was named NFL Coach of the Year for the 2004 NFL season after the Chargers went 12–4 and won the AFC West. Schottenheimer led the team to two playoff appearances, his 12th and 13th as a head coach. However, both appearances resulted in disappointing losses; to the underdog New York Jets in overtime in 2005, and to 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 general manager A.J. Smith, which reached a breaking point when four assistants (Cam Cameron, Wade Phillips, Rob Chudzinski and Greg Manusky) left for positions with other teams. These coaches all left to pursue higher-level opportunities with other teams, which cannot be prevented by the team they are leaving under NFL rules; two of them became head coaches, instead of merely making a lateral move to the same position with another team.
  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 team president Dean Spanos and Schottenheimer. Spanos had always been against the idea of allowing relatives to be on the same coaching staff, even though Schottenheimer's son Brian was the Chargers' quarterbacks coach. Schottenheimer even went as far to book a flight to San Diego for his brother, Kurt, against Spanos's wishes. This act of defiance increased the gap between Spanos and Schottenheimer.
  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."
  Schottenheimer was still owed $4 million for the final year of his contract, as the firing was "without cause". Schottenheimer was replaced as San Diego head coach by Norv Turner—coincidentally the last full-time head coach the Redskins had before Schottenheimer's arrival. Following the Chargers' subsequent 1–3 start the next season, fans at Qualcomm Stadium voiced their displeasure with the firing by chanting Schottenheimer's name.
  Schottenheimer's tenure as an NFL head coach concluded with 205 wins, which are the most of any head coach to not reach or win an NFL championship. His 200 regular season wins are also the most of NFL head coaches to not reach and win a championship. In his NFL coaching career, 17 coaches have been hired by teams that previously employed him, with all but the Chargers and Chiefs having a losing record and only the Chiefs advancing to a Super Bowl title in their post-Schottenheimer eras.
caption: Schottenheimer with a Chargers fan during his tenure as San Diego's coach.
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