What does new Seahawks OC Brian Schottenheimer resume show us?
Schottenheimer was reportedly the Seahawks first choice as their new offensive coordinator. What does his past work show he’ll do in Seattle?
The speculation on who might be the new Seahawks offensive coordinator began after that ill-fated pass in the Super Bowl. Many 12s fired Darrell Bevell that day, at least in their hearts. The guessing game really heated up once Pete Carroll granted those fervent wishes. That game ended when Seattle hired Brian Schottenheimer today.
But that only kicks off a new game. What will the Seahawks offense look like under their new coordinator? For the first clues, let’s start at the beginning. Brian Schottenheimer was born a poor – sorry, wrong story. And we aren’t going back nearly that far. Schottenheimer is the son of Marty Schottenheimer, who had a pretty good career himself with as a head coach in the NFL for 21 years.
Brian played quarterback under Steve Spurrier at the University of Florida, backing up Danny Wuerfel and winning a national title. Nice work if you can get it. Schottenheimer was hired as an assistant coach by the St. Louis Rams right out of college, then joined dad next year with the Kansas City Chiefs. After a couple years in college coaching tight ends and wide receivers, he came back to the NFL. He joined the Washington Redskins as their quarterbacks coach in 2001. I’m guessing the staff meeting started with, “Hey Dad, long time no see.” He spent one year coaching Tony Banks. Clearly it was time to move on.
Schottenheimer builds his resume with a couple of great QBs
Brian Schottenheimer spent the next four years as the San Diego Chargers quarterbacks coach. He had his work cut out for him here, as he inherited a short second-year quarterback who’d only appeared in one game in his rookie season. But Drew Brees turned out to have some talent after all. It probably didn’t hurt that Brian was working for his dad again, either.
Brees really didn’t break through until Schottenheimer’s third year on the job. Brees basically didn’t become Brees until he arrived in New Orleans. That’s due more to Marty’s conservative style than Brian’s coaching. When Brees left for greener pastures after the 2005 season, Brian Schottenheimer followed suit.
The former quarterbacks coach became the New York Jets offensive coordinator in 2006. He held the job for six years. Under Schottenheimer, the Jets offense jumped from 29th in points scored the year before to 18th. It could be that Chad Pennington was simply better than Brooks Bollinger and a 42 year old Vinnie Testaverde, too. Because he was, you know.
The Jets offense dropped back to 25th in scoring the next year, but in 2008 it jumped all the way to ninth in the league. That would be the Year of the Hired Gun, the 39 year old Brett Favre. With Mark Sanchez under center in 2009 and 2010, the offense declined somewhat, but was still a respectable 13th in the league. That was certainly good enough when backed by that ferocious defense. But the defense went south in 2011, and LaDainian Tomlinson got old. Yeah, he played for the Jets. I didn’t remember that either. Schottenheimer’s middle of the pack offense wasn’t good enough, and it was time to leave again.