Kansas City Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer died today at the age of 77. With more than 100 wins in ten seasons (101-58-1) with the Chiefs, Schottenheimer is the team’s all-time leader in coaching victories. But there was constantly one question that hovered over his career: For all the success Marty Schottenheimer enjoyed during the regular season, what prevented him from taking any of the teams he coached to the Super Bowl?
To trace the fundamental answer, you need to go back to Schottenheimer’s professional playing career that started in 1965. He was a linebacker for the Buffalo Bills. Long-time Kansas City sports
One of Schottenheimer’s coaching principals was “one play at a time,” which dates back to a game he played in against the New York Jets. When Jets quarterback Joe Namath tried to run out of a pass formation, Schottenheimer
explained what happened, “As he (Namath) came toward me, my only objective was to try to knock his head off. As I went for him, Joe put a little move on me. I ended diving on the ground and missed the tackle.”
Schottenheimer said he felt embarrassed. So much so, it bothered him through the next several plays that resulted in a Jets drive for a touchdown.
He added, “I remember at the point thinking, ‘You can’t let those things happen to you.’ The one-play-at-a-time concept has been something borne of that.”
Schottenheimer retired as a player in 1971 and went into the real estate business until the mid-1970s when he bounced around as an assistant coach. His first head coaching job came in Cleveland in 1984, then he became the Chiefs head coach in 1989. Schottenheimer molded teams to fit his style, but he said it went beyond that.
“Work harder. Prepare better. You have to put yourself in a position to where you pay attention to all the details,” Schottenheimer said during one of his weekly news conferences with the Kansas City media. “If you do that, if in fact you’re not one of the one, two or three best teams in the league, you’re going to end up with an opportunity to achieve your ambition.”
writer writer Bob Gretz says that’s
where the philosophy known as “Marty Ball” began.
“Marty’s stamp as a coach will start with defense, but also you can’t forget the running game,” said Gretz. “He believed in old-school football. You go out and hit them and they hit you. Whoever hits them the hardest wins.”
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