The San Diego Traveler

After taking the division title in two of the last three years, and recording the best record in the NFL this last season (albeit without making it to the Super Bowl), Coach Marty Schottenheimer has been fired.

Wasn’t it just last month that the Chargers offered to extend his contract through 2008?

 Since then, the Chargers have lost several key members of the coaching staff:

• Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron was hired by the Miami Dolphins
• Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips has gone to the Dallas Cowboys
• Tight ends coach Rob Chudzinski is now offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns
• Linebackers coach Greg Manusky was hired as the defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers

Citing these losses, and the friction between Schottenheimer and Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith, President Dean Spanos explained his change of heart in a press release, excerpts of which stated:

I must take whatever steps are necessary to deliver a Super Bowl trophy to San Diego. 

and

Our fans deserve to know what changed for me over the last month.   When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact.  Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager. 

 In short, this entire process over the last month convinced me beyond any doubt that I had to act to change this untenable situation and create an environment where everyone at Charger Park would be pulling in the same direction and working at a championship level.  I expect exactly that from our entire Charger organization in 2007.

Although not explicitly spelled out by the Charger organization, this statement has spurred speculation that Smith and Schottenheimer came to an impasse on who would choose the new assistant coaches, and that was the final straw.

As for Schottenheimer’s take on the situation:

We had a couple of meetings today, and we…we discussed a couple of matters early on…and then subsequent to that we met once again and…he informed me of his decision, and I respect his decision.  We had five good years here, and…I feel very, very confident that this organization right now and this football team is better than the one that was here when I got here. 

Looking to his future,

You know, I still enjoy what I do, coaching, and…you know, you never know what the future may hold.  I still, as long as I’ve got my health…I still feel..like I’m good at what I do, and I enjoy coaching.

Expect an announcement in the next week or two that Schottenheimer has been snatched up by another team.  With his record, he shouldn’t have any trouble finding a new job.

The Chargers, on the other hand, will have to immediately start their search for a new head coach, which will probably lead to further changes in the remaining coaching staff.  All of this, while negotiating with National City, Chula Vista, and Oceanside for a new stadium and home for the Chargers, paying off the remaining $60 million in debt incurred for the 1997 Qualcomm Stadium expansion, and planning for the building of a second site with a mix of housing, entertainment venues, offices, restaurants, a hotel and retail outlets, in order to fund the new stadium.

If I were a betting person, I wouldn’t be putting any big money on the Chargers run for the Super Bowl any time soon.

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