Former Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer won’t make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this time around.
That distinction will go to another former Cleveland head coach who is also on the list of 12 coaches who are nominees to be a finalist for induction. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. His name is Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest pro football coach of all-time. Only one coach will be selected as a finalist, so that will be Belichick. In fact, Mr. Bill will be a shoo-in to be chosen for in enshrinement from the list of overall finalists from all the various categories.
Despite all that, Schottenheimer certainly — clearly — deserves to be in the HOF someday, whether it be next year, the year after that or some other year down the road.
Indeed, if, with all due respect, Don Coryell is somehow in the Hall, then Schottenheimer should he there, too, since he was a much better coach.
Schottenheimer won — in big numbers — everywhere he went, with the exception of one season when he was just 8-8 with the then Washington Redskins, who had a dysfunctional owner in Daniel Snyder who ruined even good men. He never had a losing season and is ninth all-time in victories with 205.
What Schottenheimer lacks on his HOF worthiness list is the same thing as some ex-Browns players such as Clay Matthews, Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield in that none of them ever went to the big stage of a Super Bowl, which would have celebrated them all and brought their resumes into focus
But even with that, he spent almost every season ridiculously close to getting there. On some occasions, including twice in Cleveland, he was stopped just inches short. The third time with the Browns, Denver won by more than just a little bit.
Does that count for something? You’re darn right it does! It counts for a lot, in fact.
And it most assuredly counts enough to be in the Hall of Fame, not just as a consideration, but as legitimately in, with your bust in that special room that the late great John Madden, a Hall of Famer himself, used to talk about all the time.
And, before you wonder about it, let me clear up something else regarding Schottenheimer.
I have written on any number of other occasions that Steve Doerschuk, the former longtime Browns beat writer for the Canton Repository, and I used to have lengthy discussions — friendly, but spirited debates, really — about Coach Marty. When the expansion-era Browns were going through coaches like water, Steve’s point was that they should bring back Schottenheimer as their coach, the reason being he had already proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that he could put the team — any team, actually — into contention because he did it in his long career. My point was that Marty had already proven that he couldn’t get a team to a Super Bowl, and that should be the Browns’ major goal instead of just being satisfied with getting very close.
This is a different discussion than the one earlier in this piece about Schottenheimer’s worthiness for the Hall. He deserves to be Canton, and I will keep pushing that opinion in writing about it until it happens. On this matter, Mr. Doerschuk and I agree wholeheartedly
Steve King
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