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Redskins head coach
Marty Schottenheimer
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Writers often scold star players who stay on past their prime or come back after
"retiring," but what about those veteran coaches who do the same?
The NFL has at least three coaches this season who must be wondering if they made the
right decision: George Seifert with the Panthers, Dick Vermeil with the Chiefs and Marty
Schottenheimer with the Redskins.
Seifert had a very successful run with the 49ers, winning two Super Bowls while running
up the highest winning percentage in NFL history of any coach with at least 100 wins.
He probably didn’t get the credit he deserved because many observers felt he was
winning simply because Bill Walsh had created such a good team. There is no denying that
Seifert inherited a team with great players, but it’s more difficult than it seems to
win with that kind of team because star players can go in different directions if they
don’t have firm guidance. If you want an example from another sport, try the Los
Angeles Dodgers of the 1990s.
As a first-hand observer, I felt Seifert did an excellent job of coaching the team. He
had his faults. Early on, he tried to emulate Walsh as a player evaluator, which was not
his strength, but club president Carmen Policy soon developed a system that worked better,
with several people having input on personnel decisions. Seifert also had problems when he
tried to get involved in the offense, but when he brought in Mike Shanahan as offensive
coordinator with complete autonomy, Seifert no longer had to worry about the offense.
Seifert was best at keeping his team on an even keel, and the 49ers prospered under his
guidance. But there comes a time when players get tired of a coach’s message —
it happened to Walsh too, in his final year — and that happened to Seifert in 1996.
Policy, his friend, persuaded him to resign so Steve Mariucci could be hired. Seifert was
paid $1.5 million the next year to go fishing and visit all the foreign countries he
wanted.
Seifert could have stayed on the 49ers’ payroll indefinitely, but he still wanted
to coach, so he signed on with the Panthers in ’99. Mistake.
The Panthers had made some serious personnel mistakes in trying to build a contending
team quickly, and they ran into salary-cap problems this year.
Seifert was left with a team with very few quality players, and none of those few could
play quarterback. The results were predictable; unfortunately, that has only given
ammunition to those who felt Seifert was just a caretaker with the 49ers.
Vermeil’s case is even more puzzling because he retired twice — but he’s
still coaching.
An incredibly intense coach, Vermeil was one of the early examples of burnout with the
Eagles, perhaps the first of the coaches who slept in their offices because they
couldn’t take time out to go home.
Vermeil got to a Super Bowl after the 1980 season, but his style wore out his players
and himself, and he retired to go into broadcasting after the 1982 season.
Returning to the NFL with the Rams in ’97, Vermeil still had the same intense
coaching style, and his long practices almost brought about a team mutiny. Finally, he
relaxed, and the team responded, winning the Super Bowl after the ’99 season. Vermeil
retired again.
It seemed a perfect time to retire, as perfect as Michael Jordan’s retirement
after he won another NBA championship in his final game. But like Jordan, Vermeil
couldn’t stay retired. The quiet life didn’t suit him.
He unretired to come back as coach of the Chiefs. Another mistake.
The Chiefs are a team without a personality. Once they were a dominating defensive team
with a ball-control offense. Their defense fell apart after star LB Derrick Thomas died,
and their offense has sputtered with Trent Green at quarterback.
There are five teams in the AFC West, and at the halfway mark of the 2001 season, the
Chiefs were the only one of the five who were definitely out of playoff contention.
Meanwhile, the Rams’ team Vermeil left behind seems headed for the Super Bowl
again, this time under Mike Martz, who had been Vermeil’s offensive coordinator.
The conclusion is inescapable: Vermeil was only a minor factor in the Rams’
success in 1999.
With the original Cleveland Browns and Chiefs, Schottenheimer had been a consistent
coach who could not get his team up to the next level, much like Chuck Knox of an earlier
era. Schottenheimer’s playoff record was a dismal 5-11, but at least his teams were
always solid during the season.
By the time he left the Chiefs after the ’98 season, Schottenheimer had lost his
zest for coaching. When the Browns returned as an expansion team, he interviewed for the
coaching job and might have been hired, but Policy, by now the Browns’ president, was
turned off because he didn’t think Schottenheimer’s interest went beyond the
money he would get.
When Schottenheimer returned to coaching, it was with the Redskins, whose impetuous
young owner, Dan Snyder, signed him to a four-year, $10 million contract. Schottenheimer
soon demonstrated that he no longer had a feel for the game when he tried to make Jeff
George his quarterback. At least, he realized after two games that he’d made a
mistake — as had every other NFL team that put George in the starting lineup —
but he will earn every cent of his contract with the sad sack ’Skins. Unless
he’s fired before the four years are up.
Head coaches have a short shelf-life in the NFL, as short as star athletes in most
cases. When the coaches try to exceed that time, they only tarnish their own reputations,
and Seifert, Vermeil and Schottenheimer are the latest examples.
Glenn Dickey is a columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle who has
covered pro football since 1967. E-mail him at Gdickey@sfchronicle.com |
