Apparently Marty Schottenheimer Has Just Been Fired!

[Don King's Barber]

ESPN reporting. Strange timing....I've always supported the Tom Tolbert idea you should wait til right after the regular season ends and fire him before the playoffs start...

[TheGuesser]

Marty will have to go somewhere else to lose in the Playoffs. Too bad Miami filled their job. I bet they'd like a do-over.

[mjh218]

Hmm...wonder who they have in mind to replace Marty. Whoever it is, they are coming into one heck of a good situation.

Could SD lure Charlie Weiss from ND?

[Mr Negative]

Nick Saban is having dinner with Spanos tonight.

[jackyl]

What a joke!

90% of the teams in the NFL should be hoping their coach gets canned in order to get a crack at Marty S.

[gradysfalcon]

Dean Spanos' Statement on Firing Marty

"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.

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.

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."

[Bitter Bruin]

I will qualify my statements with the fact that I am a life long Charger fan having grown up in "America's Finest City."

AJ Smith should be fired, and Dean Spanos needs to go away too. Like Shittenheimer or not, the reality is he is consistent. He gave SD exactly what you would have expected - he won regular season games, developed some pretty good talent, and lost in the playoffs. That is his MO, that is what he does - for anyone to expect that they were going to get anything different from him is a joke.

Further, they wait for their two coordinators to walk away before they take an action? What a fukkin joke! Congratulations you two fuktards, you have just turned a 14-2 team into a 6-10 team.

I am sure, given the track record here, we can expect any one of the following to be hired: Jim Haslett, Jim Mora, Art Shell, Norv Turner, or (insert name of any other pile of crap coach).

Ever since the Spanos group took over this has been close to becoming the Clippers of the NBA - the only thing standing in their way are the piles of crap known as the Lions, Raiders and Cardinals...

[Uncle B]

''Here are a few potential candidates to be the next Chargers coach''

Bill Parcells: He resigned last month as the Cowboys coach, and Chargers GM A.J. Smith and club President Dean Spanos have tremendous respect for the veteran coach. In fact, the Chargers wooed Parcells in 2002 before hiring Schottenheimer. Parcells won two championships with the Giants and also took the Patriots to the Super Bowl, meaning he has accomplished something Chargers ownership doesn't believe Schottenheimer ever will: lead a team to a title.


Pete Carroll: The USC coach has said he's comfortable where he is, but his name continues to be linked with a return to the NFL, where he spent three seasons as coach of the Patriots and one as coach of the Jets. During those stints, his teams went 1-2 in the postseason. He could be attractive to the Chargers because, in addition to being successful at USC, he also has a background in defense (and the Chargers are in need of someone to run the unit). Carroll was a coordinator for six NFL seasons, four with the Jets and two with the 49ers. He has spurned other chances to return to the pro game, but San Diego could be attractive because it's right down the road, the cupboards are stocked with talent and the team appears capable of making a title run.



Norv Turner: If Spanos is interested in continuity and a head coach who can work with Smith, Turner fits the bill. Currently the offensive coordinator in San Francisco, Turner installed the Chargers offense in 2001 when he served as the team's coordinator under Mike Riley. Schottenheimer offered him a chance to stay on staff the following year, but Turner passed and accepted the same position with Miami. It should be noted that Turner was a finalist for the Chargers job in 2002 and might have gotten it had Schottenheimer not been dismissed in Washington after an 8-8 season.

Ted Cottrell: He was out of coaching in 2006, but Cottrell has a history with Smith. The two were together in Buffalo, where Cottrell was the Bills' defensive coordinator for three seasons and ran a 3-4 scheme. Smith suggested Cottrell for the coordinator position with the Chargers after the 2003 season, but the job went to Wade Phillips. Considering it took the Chargers 47 years to hire their first black coordinator, what are the odds that they hire a black head coach in the same year?

[cecil]

Bad call! Why F with your team so much?
First Drew brees, now this is shocking. They totally screwed Marty by waiting so long to. This team needs some stability. Its so hard to get good in the NFL, when you are there, you need to stay there.

[niltes]

butler, then AJ has done an unbelievable job of bringing in talent. marty has coached decent, but has the ability to lose with teams that are far more talented than their opponents, especially when it counts (think jets in the playoffs for example). AJ should be untouchable for the job he has done and spanos recognizes this. marty would not work with AJ!!! remember last year's final game, a meaningless one with denver. AJ wanted to play rivers to get him some experience and to evaluate whether to re-sign brees. marty refused and started brees. brees hurt his shoulder that game thus making the chargers decision on their future QB for them. the chargers made the right choice, but their timing was extremely poor. the staff has been decimated and continuity has been compromised. it will take an incredible effort by the team/new coaching staff to get the team to play at the level of last year.
but do not credit marty for getting them to be a solid team again; credit AJ and marty's staff first.

[Uncle B]

Originally Posted by cecil

Bad call! Why F with your team so much?
First Drew brees, now this is shocking. They totally screwed Marty by waiting so long to. This team needs some stability. Its so hard to get good in the NFL, when you are there, you need to stay there.

I'm not a big fan of Marty, but, i agree 100% , think they made a really dumbass decision here.




then again, he does seem completely incapable of winning big games.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Great talk on Cowherd this morning about how this is a horrible move if only because there's such a sh!tty selection of potential candidates out there. There's really no one worthwhile available right now.

I mean, come on, how CRIMINAL is it that you could legitimately say that Norv Turner is the leading candidate for this job? That's a very real scenario and Chargers fans should be afraid, very afraid.

[mjh218]

Why did they do it now? The talent pool of assistant coaches is a bit picked over after many of the other teams hired them. Seems a bit odd

Boy, this would be a perfect job for Pete Carrol..

[niltes]

apparantly a lot of the problems yeterday were caused by marty wanting kurt
schottenheimer as one of his coordinators. this did not go over very well and things escalated from there.

[Bookie Blasters kid]

All you keep talking about Marty and his not winning in the playoffs should remember Cower and Manning and Marino and all the rest who found it difficult to win a super bowl. Marty is a great coach that has not yet won a super bowl.

I would bet that he will win a super bowl one day because he is that good and whoever he coaches will be good enough to win one and that's for sure. He is that good.

[niltes]

Marty is not a bad coach, but he has consistently underachieved in the post season with teams that have shown talent in the regular season. when and if, he ever overachieves in the post season, a huge monkey will be off his back. however he is 63 and his legacy seems pretty certain.

[jag]

philip rivers, LT, and gates would even make norv look good... it won't matter who's next... fortunately they got away from marty ball for most of the regular season...

[Uncle B]

Schottenheimer won't return to NFL

His agent says, "yes," but Marty Schottenheimer says, "no." At least for now.

Schottenheimer, the former Cleveland Browns and San Diego Chargers coach, told the Miami Herald Saturday he is unlikely to return to the return to the NFL.

It was the second time in three weeks Schottenheimer ruled out another go-around in the league, which includes interviewing for the Ravens' head coaching position.

''In all likelihood, I'm not going to be back,'' Schottenheimer told the Herald. -- Baltimore Examiner