Post by TheShadow on Feb 18, 2007 10:31:50 GMT -5
www.orlandosentinel.com
by Chris Harry
The latest in a long line of postseason flameouts didn't get Marty Schottenheimer fired. Instead, it was his willingness to let assistants advance their careers that did him in.
Something's not right here.
At 14-2, the San Diego Chargers posted the best record in the NFL in 2006. They had the league's MVP in LaDainian Tomlinson, a very good run defense and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
It all meant nothing when postseason-savvy New England -- with the help of an undisciplined Chargers team seemingly bent on self-destructing -- went west and dealt Schottenheimer yet another January jolt. The 24-21 loss dumped his postseason record to 5-13 with three teams (including three one-and-out losses as a No. 1 seed) and was Schottenheimer's sixth consecutive playoff defeat, the second with a division-championship squad in San Diego.
Given his track record for promising seasons and unfulfilled promises, a good case could have been made if Chargers owner Dean Spanos fired Schottenheimer after the loss.
But he didn't.
Instead, Spanos waited until last week, citing the "dysfunctional relationship'' between Schottenheimer and Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith in firing his coach nearly a month after the season ended.
That chasm of dysfunction had existed for the better part of four years. Schottenheimer and Smith agreed on virtually nothing and rarely spoke to each other. So how did it get worse in a matter of weeks?
Here's how.
Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was hired as coach in Miami, and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was hired as coach in Dallas. Two potential successors to those posts, tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski and linebackers coach Greg Manusky, already had been released by Schottenheimer and received jobs in San Francisco and Cleveland, respectively.
So faced with replacing Phillips relatively late in the coaching hiring process, Schottenheimer sought permission to interview his brother, Kurt, an accomplished coordinator in past stops with Detroit, Washington and Kansas City.
That was the flash point of his firing.
Spanos and Smith were incensed that the best in-house candidate (Manusky) was gone.
"That has been my policy throughout my career in the NFL as a coach," said Schottenheimer, who is 205-139-1 with four teams since 1984. "I believe if a young man or veteran coach has an opportunity to move forward and advance his career with more responsibility, he should be given that opportunity."
Bravo. Too often there exists an indentured-servant mentality with assistants.
Take Tampa Bay. Jon Gruden repeatedly denied advancement opportunities to the likes of Rod Marinelli, Mike Tomlin and Joe Barry over the years, apparently forgetting how Mike Holmgren once allowed a 31-year-old receivers coach named Gruden to leave Green Bay's staff and become offensive coordinator in Philadelphia.
Three years later, Gruden was coaching the Oakland Raiders, the NFL's youngest coach at 34.
Last week, after Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy won the Super Bowl, his mind wasn't on maintaining continuity in his staff when secondary coach Leslie Frazier was invited to interview for the defensive coordinator post in Minnesota. Dungy let him, and Frazier got the job.
The pool of capable assistants isn't shallow. It's up to coaches and GMs to find them. Worth noting: Dungy found Marinelli, Tomlin and Barry in the college ranks. Another guy he found and eventually allowed to move on was Lovie Smith. Things worked out for him, too.
Schottenheimer, 63, has plenty of faults. They usually rear themselves in the postseason.
Fire him for losing in the playoffs, not for losing assistants.
Lemon aid
Reports out of Miami indicate Cameron will give a fair shot at the quarterback spot to Cleo Lemon, who came to the Dolphins in 2005 via a trade with the Chargers.
Lemon helped foster the aforementioned "dysfunction" in San Diego. Schottenheimer liked him; Smith did not. His trade resulted in one of the many blowups at Chargers headquarters the past few years.
With Daunte Culpepper on the mend and Joey Harrington coming off a typically disappointing season, Lemon already has Cameron in his corner. But Lemon is a restricted free agent, and the Dolphins will have to make him the kind of offer that potential suitors won't want to mess with.
Quick Slants
The NFL Scouting Combine starts Wednesday in Indianapolis. Close to 350 college prospects will file through the RCA Dome for weighing, measuring and a battery of physical and intelligence tests. For years, players chose not to run at the event, opting to use the "pro days" on their campuses to work out. The recent trend, though, has seen prospects take part in most of the activities, many of which will be televised by the NFL Network.
Speaking of the combine, a coin toss there between Tampa Bay and Cleveland will determine which team selects third and which fourth in the April draft. Each finished 4-12 and had the same opponents' winning percentage (.535).
The exit of QB David Carr from Houston is looking more and more like a done deal. The Texans reportedly will seek a middle-round pick for the player they took with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2002 draft. In the right place -- where he'll have some pass protection -- Carr could end up being a steal.
Arizona executive John Idzik left his post as senior director of football operations to take a job with NFC West rival Seattle, where he'll be reunited with GM Tim Ruskell. Idzik, whose chief responsibility will be handling contracts, and Ruskell were front-office partners under then-Bucs GM Rich McKay and won a Super Bowl together in Tampa. Idzik replaces Mike Reinfeldt, who left to become Tennessee's GM.
With free agency barely two weeks away, San Francisco is a projected $38 million under the salary cap of $112 million. If that sounds like a lot, consider that -- because of the new collective-bargaining agreement -- the 49ers are one of 15 teams with at least $20 million worth of cap space. All but two teams, Baltimore and Carolina, already are under the '07 cap.
A Final Thought: In this league of retreads, is there any doubt someone will take another flier on "Marty Ball"?