Marty Schottenheimer, who died this week, touched many teams, including the Dolphins
Marty Schottenheimer’s passing earlier this week sparked a chorus of emotional and touching recollections of the man who coached four NFL teams -- Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington and San Diego -- over a 21-year span.
But this NFL giant touched the entire league and practically all its teams in some way.
Including the Miami Dolphins.
You should know that some people who were part of the Dolphins at the time believe Schottenheimer might have been Don Shula’s hand-picked successor in January of 1996 had circumstances been slightly different.
Yeah, if only then-Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga had been of a mind to give Shula a say on the matter, as he later did with Jimmy Johnson. And had Johnson somehow not been in the picture but had remained with the Dallas Cowboys.
“If Schottenheimer had been available, and I don’t think he was because he was in Kansas City, but I could see coach Shula wanting to work with Marty Schottenheimer,” said Stuart Weinstein, who was the Dolphins security director for 34 years and worked alongside 10 coaches.
“I could see that happening. That wasn’t the scenario, obviously, because Wayne had Jimmy in mind when he made the move.”
Shula respected Schottenheimer. But it was more than that.
The two were friends.
Schottenheimer and his wife Pat would visit the Shulas in the offseason at their home on Indian Creek in Miami Beach. Weinstein would pick up the couple at the airport and on more than one occasion saw the bond between the two coaches dating as far back as a 1985 playoff game in which the Dolphins rallied for a 24-21 victory.
After the January 1991 game in which the Dolphins rallied for to a 17-16 playoff win, Schottenheimer and Shula met in the tunnel between the two locker rooms at then Joe Robbie Stadium. It wasn’t to talk football.
Shula’s wife Dorothy was ill at the time and the two friends talked about that.
“I know coach Marty Schottenheimer came down to tell coach Shula he was praying for Dorothy,” Weinstein said.
Schottenheimer touched the Dolphins in other ways.
In 1988, the Dolphins cut Don Strock after 14 years -- much to the consternation of starter Dan Marino, by the way -- and Schottenheimer soon signed Strock to play for his Cleveland Browns.
“They signed me and I went in to see him and I’ll never forget he tells me, ‘Thanks for coming to help us.’ I’m thinking, ‘Thanks for coming to help us? You paid me almost a half-million-dollars!’ “ Strock recalls with a laugh.
Strock said Schottenheimer was a players’ coach.
“We had lunch served by different restaurants in the city of Cleveland,” Strock said. “He would sit at different tables with each group of players, you know, the defensive linemen, offensive linemen. He’d sit there and tell stories, [B.S.] with them. He kept in touch with what was going on. It wasn’t just football, football, football all the time.
“We stayed at home the night before (home) games. This was 1988 and we’re staying at home. He’d tell us, ‘Be at the stadium two hours before kickoff.’ The whole atmosphere was player oriented and I can see why players would love him and try to win for him. He was that kind of guy.
“Most of the players called him Marty. I could never do that. I always called him coach or sir. I guess it was my upbringing at Virginia Tech that did that to me because everything there was no sir, and yes sir, more southern. But it was more like he was your big brother and I think guys appreciated that. And we played accordingly.”
Schottenheimer finished his NFL career in 2006 with the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers were 14-2 that season but fired Schottenheimer anyway.
Cam Cameron was Schottenheimer’s offensive coordinator in San Diego for five years and took the job as Dolphins head coach before the decision on Schottenheimer was made by the Chargers.
“Marty loved to run the football and our teams were built to be physical, tough and smart -- all characteristics that embodied who he was, where he was from (the Pittsburgh area), what he believed in, and how he believed you win in the NFL,” Cameron said Thursday.
“Marty’s favorite play call was 40 or 50 Power. One year we called it 24 times, I think, in a row, in a win against the Raiders in Oakland -- 18 to the right and 6 to the left for a total of 28 points just on that play.
“He couldn’t get the smile off his face ... The code words for the play were Marty for 40 Power and Steel for 50 Power. We named it after him and what his hometown was known for, steel.”
Running back LaDainian Tomlinson scored 31 touchdowns (28 rushing and 3 receiving) to set a new NFL scoring record in 2006.
“It was also fitting that the play LT broke the all time NFL scoring record came on ‘Steel 50 Power,’ “ Cameron said.
Not all of Cameron’s memories of Schottenheimer came on the field.
He and Schottenheimer would play nine holes of golf before preseason games. And as the head coach would take $5 from his coordinator for beating him, the two would talk more than just football.
“We’d talk family, golf and football,” Cameron said. “We all know how much he loved his family and football was a close second. He adored his wife Pat in a way I had never seen a man adore his wife and it had a profound impact on me as a husband. He talked about his kids Kristen and Brian every chance he could and this also had a tremendous effect on me as a father.”
Schottenheimer introduced Cameron to Scotch at the Senior Bowl.
“He loved a single malt Scotch,” Cameron recalled. “It took me several years to acquire a taste for it but I’m happy to say I toast him and my father every time I have a glass. My father, Tom, is a longtime Scotch guy as well.”
He touched a lot of people and a lot of NFL teams. Here’s to you, Marty Schottenheimer.
