Marty Schottenheimer was at his home in late February when his phone rang. The former NFL coach had planned on spending his spring playing golf and relaxing with family when the voice on the other end said he had a question. It was United Football League commissioner Michael Huyghue, and the question was to gauge if Schottenheimer had interest in returning to football.
After thinking it over with his wife, Pat, Schottenheimer decided he was ready to return. On Wednesday, the 67-year-old was officially named head coach and GM of the Virginia Destroyers.
"It's like anything else, you look at the upside and you look at the downside," Schottenheimer said in a conference call with reporters. "When you do that, the only way to go is up. From a personal standpoint, Pat and I were excited that we're here in Virginia Beach, which is not far from our home in Charlotte. So I didn't really have any trepidation and quite candidly I was amazed at the quality of the facilities, they blew me away."
Schottenheimer has been out of coaching since early 2007, when he was fired by the Chargers following a 14-2 regular season but a loss in the divisional round of the postseason. In his 21 years as an NFL head coach, he posted a regular-season record of 200-126-1, but he was just 5-13 in the postseason and never made a Super Bowl. The 200 wins are sixth-most in NFL history.
Now he joins three other former NFL head coaches — Jim Fassel, Dennis Green and Jerry Glanville — as leaders of UFL teams. The league is entering its third season in 2011 with five teams, and Schottenheimer says he is excited to return to where he belongs: the sideline.
"The interaction between players and coaches, that's always been the biggest part of it for me; the people," Schotteneheimer said when asked what he missed most. "The first year I was out, I didn't really miss it. The second year I was out, well, I missed it a little. Quite candidly, if you had said to me a month ago, 'You going back to coaching?' I'd have said 'Naw, I'm not going to do that.' You know, all of a sudden this opportunity presents itself."
With the NFL in a lockout, the coach felt the UFL could be a quality alternative for football-starved fans. Like every other team in both league, Schottenheimer said his goal is to become familiar with the players that could be added to his team and evaluate the personnel on the roster. It may not be Aarowhead Stadium with the AFC West on the line, but just being back around the game is exciting enough.
"The stadium is not large and they're going to enlarge it, but the practice facilities and the practice fields are good. That's always been a big part of it for me," the coach said. "You put players on a field during the season to practice, you got to make sure it gives them the best opportunity to play on Sunday."
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