Feb 12, 2021 5 min read

The world lost a great football coach this past week when Marty Schottenheimer died. It lost an even better person.

I’ve spoken to dozens, if not hundreds, of people over the years regarding Schottenheimer. Not one ever had a bad thing to say about the Fort Cherry High School graduate on a personal level.

That’s difficult to do, especially in that business.

Oh, sure, there were those who spoke derisively of “Marty Ball.” How Schottenheimer couldn’t win the big one.

But some of that is just plain bad luck. When did Schottenheimer ever have the better quarterback in any of the conference championship games in which he coached?

Never happened.

No, Schottenheimer’s teams won because of Schottenheimer and the way he coached.

He rescued a moribund franchise in Cleveland and turned the Browns into winners, leading the franchise to a 44-27 record and two AFC Championship games. His winning percentage in Cleveland trails only that of legendary coach Paul Brown and the man who followed him, Blanton Collier.

But both coached the Browns pre-1970.

And sure, Schottenheimer was 2-4 in the postseason in Cleveland. But those two playoff wins – in five seasons – are one fewer than every coach the Browns have had since combined when Schottenheimer left Cleveland after the 1988 season.

Schottenheimer did the same thing in Kansas City, when he took over the Chiefs in 1989, taking a franchise that was destitute and immediately turning it into a winner.

Frank Ganz had won eight combined games in two seasons before Schottenheimer took over. Schottenheimer had the Chiefs at 8-7-1 in his first season there. They went 11-5 the next season.

His .634 winning percentage with the Chiefs is the second-best in Chiefs history behind only current coach Andy Reid.

As he did in Cleveland, he rescued a struggling franchise. That’s what Schottenheimer did.

Did he win a Super Bowl? No.

Neither had Reid until 2020. And now he’s considered a shoo-in for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday.

That honor should be there for Schottenheimer, as well.

Sure, the Super Bowl wins aren’t there. But Schottenheimer did hire four coaches who would go on to lead their respective teams to Super Bowls in Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, Mike McCarthy and Bruce Arians.

That should matter.

So should his 205 career wins, which ranks eighth on the league’s all-time list. Of those above him, only Bill Belichick and Reid are not in the Hall of Fame. And both will be some day.

Of those behind him, guys such as Marv Levy, Sid Gilman and George Allen all made the Hall of Fame without winning a championship, despite having coached in the Super Bowl era.

Schottenheimer should have that honor, as well. It’s just a shame he won’t ever get to enjoy it in person.

• Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey officially announced his retirement Friday, to the surprise of nobody who had been following along.

Pouncey had been on the fence regarding retirement following the 2020 season. But Ben Roethlisberger had been trying to get Pouncey to come back for one more year.

The two are close and always talked about leaving the game together.

Roethlisberger and the Steelers began talking last week about the potential to lower his salary cap number for the 2021 season.

It will be interesting to see if this affects his decision.

• Like Schottenheimer, Pouncey should wind up in the Hall of Fame someday.

Don’t think so? Realize he was a nine-time Pro Bowl player and was named to the All-Pro team five times, including three times on first-team.

He also was named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 2010s.

That last one is the most significant. It’s voted on by the 50-person selection committee who vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I was fortunate enough to have the honor of voting for that all-decade team a year ago. And Pouncey and Alex Mack, the two centers selected, were easy votes.

That doesn’t mean, as Alan Faneca found out, that the process will be a short one. Faneca, a member of the all-decade team for the 2000s, had to wait six years before he eventually got into the Hall of Fame. It can be like that for offensive linemen, who don’t have any true statistics on which to rely.

But there’s a very good chance that someday Pouncey will be elected.

• The selections of Faneca and Bill Nunn Jr., to the Hall of Fame last week brings the total number of people associated with the Steelers to 32.

Nunn’s selection has been long overdue.

He opened the door to the NFL for players at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. You have to wonder if Nunn had not come along, would the Steelers of the 1970s been what they were? Probably not.

By leading the team to draft players such as Mel Blount, John Stallworth, Dwight White and so many others, Nunn was the driving force behind those teams.