By John GottliebJust when you thought that all the head coaching positions had been filled in the NFL the Chargers came out Monday night and fired Marty Schottenheimer, who guided the Chargers to a league best 14-2 regular-season record and as can be expected an early playoff loss.
How did this turn of events take place? It was no secret that Schottenheimer and Executive Vice President/General Manager A.J. Smith didn’t get along, but it was only a month ago that the team offered a one-year contract extension, which was turned down by Marty, before announcing that Schottenheimer would be back for one more year.
This smells like the Larry Brown scenario all over again. Remember it was James Dolan and Isiah Thomas that let Brown languish for nearly 45 days before eventually giving him the axe.
Is it possible that this was handled in a strategic way so that Marty couldn’t catch on with another team, especially the Oakland Raiders?
How did this turn of events take place? It was no secret that Schottenheimer and Executive Vice President/General Manager A.J. Smith didn’t get along, but it was only a month ago that the team offered a one-year contract extension, which was turned down by Marty, before announcing that Schottenheimer would be back for one more year.
This smells like the Larry Brown scenario all over again. Remember it was James Dolan and Isiah Thomas that let Brown languish for nearly 45 days before eventually giving him the axe.
Is it possible that this was handled in a strategic way so that Marty couldn’t catch on with another team, especially the Oakland Raiders?
Here is the statement released by Chargers President Dean Spanos:
"Today I made an extremely difficult decision: Marty Schottenheimer is no longer the head coach of the San Diego Chargers.
"Today I made an extremely difficult decision: Marty Schottenheimer is no longer the head coach of the San Diego Chargers.
"This decision was so hard because Marty has been both a friend and valued coach of our team. But my first obligation is always to do what is in the best interest of our fans and the entire Charger organization. I must take whatever steps are necessary to deliver a Super Bowl trophy to San Diego. Events of the last month have now convinced me that it is not possible for our organization to function at a championship level under the current structure. On the contrary, and in the plainest possible language, we have a dysfunctional situation here. Today I am resolving that situation once and for all.”
If the situation was so untenable, how did the team have so much success over Marty’s tenure, which resulted in a 47-33 record over the last five seasons?
If the situation was so untenable, how did the team have so much success over Marty’s tenure, which resulted in a 47-33 record over the last five seasons?
"My decision means that our organization will be obligated to pay the last year of Marty Schottenheimer’s contract and will begin an intense search for a new head coach at this relatively late date, but these are sacrifices that I believe are necessary to give the Chargers the best possible chance to win on the field this season.”
There is no way this move betters the team. The AFC West is a stacked division and was just a little bit short of having three teams in the playoffs. The players are too good so this team won’t drop too far, but Schottenheimer has the fifth most regular-season wins (200), the ninth best regular-season winning percentage (.613) having coached at least 200 games and third most winning seasons (15) in NFL history. Who are the Chargers going to get right now that puts them in a better position to win than Marty?
There is no way this move betters the team. The AFC West is a stacked division and was just a little bit short of having three teams in the playoffs. The players are too good so this team won’t drop too far, but Schottenheimer has the fifth most regular-season wins (200), the ninth best regular-season winning percentage (.613) having coached at least 200 games and third most winning seasons (15) in NFL history. Who are the Chargers going to get right now that puts them in a better position to win than Marty?
Before Schottenheimer arrived the Chargers hadn’t had a winning season since the 1995 campaign when they went 9-7.
"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."
This is one of the most ridiculous statements. Spanos expected the coaching staff to remain largely intact…why? There was talk all season that Cam Cameron was going to be interviewed for every available coaching position and have his pick of the litter. Wade Phillips is known to turn around defenses wherever he’s been and he’s got head coaching experience. After ranking tops against the run in 2005, the Chargers were seventh last season, tallied an NFL-best 61 sacks and gave up only 18.9 points per game. Is it such a stretch that Phillips would be considered for a vacancy?
Also, tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski went to Cleveland to become the offensive coordinator and linebackers coach Greg Manusky became the defensive coordinator in San Francisco.
The Spanos family has owned the team for 23 years, but somebody should tell Dean that if you have a 14-2 season with 10 Pro-Bowlers that the chances of retaining your coaching staff are slim. And let’s not pretend that the loss of Chudzinski or Manusky cost Schottenheimer his job.
In fact San Diego was probably hurt by not getting rid of Marty earlier. It’s safe to assume that had he been available Wade Phillips would’ve been the choice to replace Schottenheimer, but they let him walk to Dallas.
Everyone will point to the fact that Schottenheimer struggles in the postseason, but year-in and year-out he puts his team in a position to be playing in important games. I know that he’s lost his last six playoff games, but this was probably the best team he’s ever worked with. It’s not a leap to think that he would’ve came out on the winning end next season with LaDainian Tomlinson, Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips, Philip Rivers, Jamal Williams and Antonio Gates. Cameron, who called all the plays in the 24-21 Divisional Playoff loss to the Pats, is the only person to be blamed for giving the ball to Tomlinson nine times in the second half even though he was running circles around New England.
So who are the candidates to lead the Chargers next season? Defensive coordinator Ron Rivera missed out since the Bears were in the Super Bowl, but he runs a 4-3 defense and Merriman is a product of the 3-4. The Ryan brothers, Rex (Baltimore’s defensive coordinator) and Rob (Oakland’s defensive coordinator) both led strong units and may be brought in, while Indianapolis assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell may be a good guy to help mold Rivers and Dean Pees, who runs the 3-4 successfully in New England, could be candidates. A sleeper could be Tennessee offensive coordinator Norm Chow if San Diego is given permission to speak to him.
Coaching retreads include Jacksonville’s Dave Campo, San Francisco’s Norv Turner, Detroit’s Mike Martz, Philadelphia’s Marty Mornhinweg, Seattle’s Jim Mora Jr. and former Giants head coach Jim Fassel.
Another name rumored after the New England loss is Marty’s son, Brian, who is the offensive coordinator for the Jets. However, I can’t imagine that they got rid of Marty to bring in his kid.
The Chargers are a team that still has a first-time offensive coordinator and no defensive coordinator so this is a team that has a lot of work to do. Despite the fact that most of the starters are coming back next season, the loss of Schottenheimer and the rest of the coaching staff will be tough to overcome, especially just two weeks before the scouting combine.
This is one of the most ridiculous statements. Spanos expected the coaching staff to remain largely intact…why? There was talk all season that Cam Cameron was going to be interviewed for every available coaching position and have his pick of the litter. Wade Phillips is known to turn around defenses wherever he’s been and he’s got head coaching experience. After ranking tops against the run in 2005, the Chargers were seventh last season, tallied an NFL-best 61 sacks and gave up only 18.9 points per game. Is it such a stretch that Phillips would be considered for a vacancy?
Also, tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski went to Cleveland to become the offensive coordinator and linebackers coach Greg Manusky became the defensive coordinator in San Francisco.
The Spanos family has owned the team for 23 years, but somebody should tell Dean that if you have a 14-2 season with 10 Pro-Bowlers that the chances of retaining your coaching staff are slim. And let’s not pretend that the loss of Chudzinski or Manusky cost Schottenheimer his job.
In fact San Diego was probably hurt by not getting rid of Marty earlier. It’s safe to assume that had he been available Wade Phillips would’ve been the choice to replace Schottenheimer, but they let him walk to Dallas.
Everyone will point to the fact that Schottenheimer struggles in the postseason, but year-in and year-out he puts his team in a position to be playing in important games. I know that he’s lost his last six playoff games, but this was probably the best team he’s ever worked with. It’s not a leap to think that he would’ve came out on the winning end next season with LaDainian Tomlinson, Shawne Merriman, Shaun Phillips, Philip Rivers, Jamal Williams and Antonio Gates. Cameron, who called all the plays in the 24-21 Divisional Playoff loss to the Pats, is the only person to be blamed for giving the ball to Tomlinson nine times in the second half even though he was running circles around New England.
So who are the candidates to lead the Chargers next season? Defensive coordinator Ron Rivera missed out since the Bears were in the Super Bowl, but he runs a 4-3 defense and Merriman is a product of the 3-4. The Ryan brothers, Rex (Baltimore’s defensive coordinator) and Rob (Oakland’s defensive coordinator) both led strong units and may be brought in, while Indianapolis assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell may be a good guy to help mold Rivers and Dean Pees, who runs the 3-4 successfully in New England, could be candidates. A sleeper could be Tennessee offensive coordinator Norm Chow if San Diego is given permission to speak to him.
Coaching retreads include Jacksonville’s Dave Campo, San Francisco’s Norv Turner, Detroit’s Mike Martz, Philadelphia’s Marty Mornhinweg, Seattle’s Jim Mora Jr. and former Giants head coach Jim Fassel.
Another name rumored after the New England loss is Marty’s son, Brian, who is the offensive coordinator for the Jets. However, I can’t imagine that they got rid of Marty to bring in his kid.
The Chargers are a team that still has a first-time offensive coordinator and no defensive coordinator so this is a team that has a lot of work to do. Despite the fact that most of the starters are coming back next season, the loss of Schottenheimer and the rest of the coaching staff will be tough to overcome, especially just two weeks before the scouting combine.
1 comment:
"The Chargers are a team that still has no offensive or defensive coordinators"
Clarence Shelmon was named the offensive coordinator almost three weeks ago, where have you been?
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