Former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer has died. He was 77, The Associated Press reported.
Schottenheimer had been transferred to a hospice facility near his Charlotte, North Carolina, home recently due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease, ESPN reported. He had been diagnosed with the disease in 2014.
Schottenheimer led four teams; the Cleveland Browns, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Washington football team known then as the Redskins and the Los Angeles Chargers. He left the game with a 205-139-1 career record that included playoffs, according to ESPN.
He’s the eighth winningest coach in NFL history, the AP reported.
As a coach, Schottenheimer had a style of coaching called “Martyball,” that the AP called, “a conservative approach that featured a strong running game and tough defense.” He would tell his team “One play at a time” in the pre-kickoff huddle.
Schottenheimer was named NFL Coach of the Year in 2004 and left the game in 2006 after a tough loss in a home divisional round playoff game between his Chargers and the New England Patriots. The next month Chargers’ owner Dean Spanos fired Schottenheimer over a personality disagreement between the coach and general manager A.J. Smith, the AP reported.
Prior to his coaching legacy, Schottenheimer was a linebacker for six seasons with the Bills and the Patriots.
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