Marty Schottenheimer reportedly dealing with early-onset Alzheimer's
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The 86 team was 12-4. That's the most W's in 1 season since 1948 when we went 14-0 & Tied with 12 wins in 1946 & 1947..Ghools again you have lost your mind. I was 23..A Season you will never forget as a Browns Fan. Should be a Great Honor this Sunday & Well Deserved
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Not possible to seprate personal from football, eh?
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Not possible to seprate personal from football, eh?
I am sure he said something real edgy about someone with Alzheimers.
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Marty was a class coach. One of my favorites. Sorry to hear about his medical condition.
Marty had his struggles in the playoffs but I still cannot believe the Chargers fired him after the season where he had taken the Chargers to their best ever 14-2 regular season winning record. Still shake my head over that one.
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Marty was a big reason the 80s were my golden era as a fan. It never sucked to remain excited about this team as deep as overtime in a Conference Championship or to the closing seconds of a Conference Championship on the road. While the outcomes left a sting, the next AFC Championship with a different Head Coach (Bud Carson) was far less competitive.
Part of what defines a Head Coach is who he hires and/or develops as Assistant Coaches. He added Lindy Infante as our OC in 1986 and he also hired one of our former Special Teams players (Bill Cowher) to Coach our Special Teams. 2 very good decisions that later enabled each Assistant Coach to attain their dreams of becoming NFL Head Coaches.
Another thing that defines a Head Coach is not only his ability to bring a philosophy but to put it into action. He wanted to run the ball, stop the run and bury the blitz. Infante was a perfect match for our young QB (Kosar) in 86 - just 1 year after Mack and Byner rushed for over 1000 yards apiece. Lindy not only knew defenses were chomping at the bits to blitz our cement shoe'd QB; but he made it his priority to attack the flats, hook zones, and grey areas of zone transitions horizontally to open seams for our HOF TE. Meanwhile, he no longer saw a need to have 2 RBs rushing for over 1000 yards when he could easily exchange handoffs with short ball control passes to our RBs in a volume of 123 receptions. Furthermore, he made 3rd down stars out of WR Brian Brennan (who led us in receptions) and RB Herman Fontenot (who had over 40 receptions) in 1986. He also enjoyed pounding Mack and Byner down the esophagus of a defense. While our defense never had a Derrick Thomas hurrying passers off the edge, it was #1 against the run in the AFC in 1986. Aside from that, we had such elite bump and run corners in Minnifield and Dixon that they helped cause a lot of sacks. In saying all that, did Derrick Thomas ever suck at hurrying passers when he had Marty as his Head Coach?
Another thing that defines a Head Coach IMO is his ability to beat our most hated rival. Marty usually beat Pittsburgh at least once a year all the while he frequented playoffs as a Head Coach here. In comparison, Bill Belichick went 0-3 against Pittsburgh only time he led us to playoffs in his 5 years as a Head Coach.
The last part of what defines a Head Coach is what he does in terms of developing players to play at their highest level possible. If you've ever stood next to Bob Golic you'll know he's not even 6' tall. Marty tapped Pro Bowl production out of him, which kept ILBs like Mike and Eddie Johnson blocker-free enough to stand out. Earnest Byner was a 10th round draft pick, Herman Fontenot wasn't even drafted, Brian Brennan looked like an average Joe, Reggie Langhorne came out Elizabeth City State, Mike Baab was an undersized Center, Paul Farren was 12th round draft pick who played 4 different positions for us. Ice Cube McNeil didn't even weigh 160 pounds. While Sam Clancy and Reggie Camp will never be most remembered for their pass rushing, they were both very solid at outside contain the perpetuated our #1 ranking against the run. All these guys I'm naming weren't exactly football sexy or gotta have material. Having said that, they all became very reliable in their specific roles within Marty's overall philosophy that kept us playoff to final 4 caliber.
Just out of curiosity, how many times did the Cleveland Browns win a playoff game throughout the 70s all the way up until Marty was our Head Coach in the 80s? And how many playoff games have we won since Marty? 2 in the last 28 years? We haven't exactly been spoiled here in life outside of Marty. I feel bad that a very good football guy like Marty is only remembered for the post season heartaches in each of the Pro Football programs he CPR'd into playoff teams. Doesn't seem fair nor does his current condition; but it's good to know a lot of us are still pulling for him...
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Great coach, Great teacher and Great motivator
Two losing seasons in 21 years
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