Schottenheimer made Chargers coach

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Posted 7:01AM on Wednesday, January 30, 2002

SAN DIEGO - Marty Schottenheimer didn't have to take another job so soon. He did, and it happens to be with the San Diego Chargers, who for the last six seasons have been one of the NFL's worst teams. Schottenheimer, a former division rival at Kansas City, signed a four-year, $10 million contract Tuesday to coach the Chargers. He can make an additional $7 million in incentives. Some of the salary will be picked up by the Redskins, who fired Schottenheimer on Jan. 13 with three years and $7.5 million left on his contract. ``My ambition is to coach a championship football team, and we haven't done that yet,'' Schottenheimer said. ``That remains my sole objective.'' Schottenheimer and the Chargers make an interesting pairing. The Chargers have missed the playoffs six straight seasons, the second-longest drought in the NFL. They won just six games the last two seasons and are 23-57 since Bobby Ross, the only coach to get them to the Super Bowl, was forced out after the 1996 season. Schottenheimer, the Chargers' fourth coach in six seasons, has had no trouble getting his teams to the playoffs, reaching the postseason 11 times in his 16 seasons as NFL head coach. Once there, though, they've gone just 5-11, including 0-3 in AFC championship games. Schottenheimer's regular-season record with Cleveland, Kansas City and Washington is 153-93-1, and his .619 winning percentage is tied for second among active NFL head coaches with at least three seasons. He was 104-65-1 from 1989-98 with the AFC West rival Chiefs. Schottenheimer didn't duck his postseason record. ``It's reality. It is what it is. I wish it were better; it's not. Somebody once said, ``The truth freezes all.' So I recognized that it's not very good, certainly not what we'd like.'' The Chargers have made the playoffs just three times in the 18 seasons they've been owned by Alex Spanos, all coming under Ross. The Chargers' last playoff game was a 35-20 wild-card loss to Indianapolis on Dec. 31, 1995, 11 months after they were embarrassed 49-26 by San Francisco in the Super Bowl. Since then, every NFL team except Cincinnati and the expansion Cleveland Browns have made the playoffs at least once. Cincinnati hasn't made the playoffs since 1990. ``I used to hate playing against him,'' Spanos said in introducing Schottenheimer. ``I can't tell you how happy I am that he's on our side.'' The Chargers have been courting Schottenheimer for nearly two weeks to replace Mike Riley, who was fired Dec. 31 after San Diego lost nine straight games to finish 5-11. Riley was 14-34 in three seasons. Schottenheimer reportedly will be paid about $4.5 million over the first three years of the deal by the Chargers, with the Redskins paying about $3 million to make up the difference of the $7.5 million he was owed when he was fired. The Chargers will pay him $2.5 million in the fourth year. Schottenheimer was 8-8 with Washington, which fired him because he refused to surrender his authority over player personnel moves. That opened the way for Steve Spurrier to be hired. Schottenheimer said a big reason he came to the Chargers is general manager John Butler, considered one of the NFL's better talent evaluators. Schottenheimer is working on assembling a staff. His younger brother, Kurt, who was Washington's defensive coordinator last year, was hired by Detroit on Tuesday. Schottenheimer said Bill Arnsparger, a defensive assistant at Washington last year, is a possibility. Arnsparger, a longtime defensive coordinator with Miami and San Diego, and one-time head coach of the New York Giants, lives in the San Diego area. Schottenheimer thinks the Chargers are a good team. ``What we have to do is find out what our identity is, what it is we do best,'' he said. To that end, he'll have to decide between Doug Flutie and Drew Brees at quarterback. Schottenheimer has a reputation of building conservative offenses. With the Chargers, he'll have a 1,000-yard rusher in LaDainian Tomlinson. With Schottenheimer being hired, Chargers offensive coordinator Norv Turner opted out of the remaining three years of his contract to pursue the Miami Dolphins' offensive coordinator job.