Posted on Tue Feb 13, 2007 at 12:49:15 PM EST in NFL
More on: Chargers, coaches (all tags)

Almost two months after the flaming out of the playoffs, the Chargers decided that Marty Schottenheimer would be the fall guy for a disappointing 14-2 season. "Disappointing" and "14-2" rarely go together but when you have as much talent and momentum as the Chargers have, you simply can't lose in the first round of the playoffs, especially when you had the game won on an interception. So Marty had to go.

Schottenheimer and General Manager A.J. Smith were not on speaking terms and had no working relationship to speak of. Team president Dean Spanos essentially took A.J. Smith over Marty Schottenheimer:

Events of the last month have now convinced me that it is not possible for our organization to function at a championship level under the current structure. On the contrary, and in the plainest possible language, we have a dysfunctional situation here. Today, I am resolving that situation once and for all.

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

So let the coaching rumors fly. Who is going to take over the Chargers and higher expectations next year? Will it be Bill Parcells? Norv Turner? Pete Carroll? Ted Cotrell? Or could it be ex-Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson? While Parcells, Carroll and Jimmy Johnson are big name coaches that will have Chargers fans salivating, our money is on a retread like Norv Turner or Ted Cottrell.

Links:
[SignOnSanDiego]: Spanos changes mind, sends Schottenheimer packing
[Yahoo]: Marty odd man out

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