Former NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer died Monday after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years. He was 77 years old.
Schottenheimer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014. He was moved to a hospice center near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, on January 30 because of complications caused by irreversible, progressive brain disorder.
Schottenheimer coached for 21 seasons in the NFL, leading the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington and Chargers.
He set a career record of 205-139-1, including the playoffs, leading his teams 13 times in the postseason. Although Schottenheimer coached in three AFC championship games, two with the Browns and one with the Chiefs, he never made a Super Bowl.
His coaching career in the NFL ended in 2006, after a 14-2 season with the Chargers and an exit from the playoffs.
LaDainian Tomlinson played for Schottenheimer for five seasons with the Chargers and called him “the best coach I’ve ever had.”
“I never got into a game with Marty as a coach feeling like I wasn’t fully prepared to win,” Tomlinson said. “He really wanted you to understand every detail of the game plan. I considered him a real American man. He was a great father figure and I was lucky that my wife and I found out [his wife] Go beyond the typical player-coach relationship. He was a well-rounded human being. He cared more about the man than the athlete. I will remember him more for the life lessons he taught me. “
Schottenheimer also played six seasons as a defender for the Buffalo Bills (1965-1968) and the Patriots (1969-1970).
He survived his wife, Pat, two children, Kristin and Brian, and four grandchildren.
Brian Schottenheimer recently reached an agreement to become the coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing game, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter after he was previously the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator.
“We know he’s looking at us from the sky and he’s smiling,” his daughter said. “We are so incredibly proud of the man he was and the way he lived his life.”