Browns: Year in preview
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Tony Grossi
Plain Dealer Reporter

The longer you stay in this business, the more you see history repeat itself.

Marty Schottenheimer was fired as coach of the San Diego Chargers after a 14-3 season because of a "dysfunctional" relationship with his bosses. Among their many disagreements reportedly was Schottenheimer's desire to hire his brother, Kurt, as the team's defensive coordinator.

Gee, where and when have we seen that before?

Right here in Cleveland, of course, after the 1988 Browns season.

Back then, Schottenheimer had steered the Browns through a trying campaign wracked by injuries to four quarterbacks. Midway through the season, Ernie Accorsi, the general manager, had to entice ex-Miami Dolphins relief specialist Don Strock out of retirement to rescue the season. Accorsi later called it one of the most difficult negotiations of his career because Strock was content as a "greeter" at Doral Country Club in Miami.

Somehow the Browns settled themselves and made the playoffs as a wild card, only to lose at home to Houston, the same team they had defeated in Game 16 to eke into the postseason. The playoff loss was marred by costly personal fouls by Earnest Byner on successive plays.

After the season expired on Christmas Eve, Accorsi wanted Schottenheimer to get away for a week to allow tensions to ease. Accorsi knew that owner Art Modell was steamed and wanted changes on Schottenheimer's staff - foremost being a reassignment of younger brother Kurt, who was special-teams coach.

Schottenheimer had other ideas and wanted to have the team's usual post-mortem immediately before leaving for a break.

The morning of the meeting, headlines in The Plain Dealer screamed of changes coming.

Modell had outlined his plans publicly before talking to Schottenheimer. When the coach read the story, he knew he was not coming back.

So ended Schottenheimer's first stint as an NFL head coach. Who could have foreseen Schottenheimer coaching 18 more years with three different teams? Schottenheimer and Bill Parcells are the only men to serve as NFL head coaches with four teams.

Unlike Parcells, Schottenheimer, 63, said he is not finished and wants to coach a fifth.

Which brings us to where it started for him.

Schottenheimer will be paid $4 million by the Chargers to take the 2007 season off. Then he will join his protege, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, as the major attractions of the 2008 NFL coaches hiring pool.

Unless things improve dramatically for the Browns, they will be changing coaches in 2008. What's dramatic? Is it winning more than one game against its division rivals? Is it doubling their win total from four to eight? Is it making the playoffs?

The principals involved -- owner Randy Lerner and General Manager Phil Savage -- are not saying.

Lerner still has not issued a legitimate comment about coach Romeo Crennel's future since the 2006 season ended in a 4-12 train wreck. The last we heard from Savage, he talked about stability and continuity. Then the Browns added 10 new coaches to Crennel's staff.

Some of the hires may actually have been made by Crennel, but the perception in NFL circles is that was not the case. One NFL assistant coach with a previous association with Crennel flatly stated, "The GM is doing the hiring over there."

Maybe it will all work out. If it doesn't, whoever is calling the shots at the time will have to seriously entertain the possibility of Cowher or Schottenheimer as the next Browns coach.

Schottenheimer ranks fifth on the NFL all-time list with 205 coaching wins. Cowher ranks 14th with 161. Both coaches for the majority of their careers have favored the 3-4 defensive scheme seemingly so imbedded in the present Browns scouting mind-set.

Could either of them return to the Browns if Crennel fails to turn around this foundering vessel?

A better question would be: If not, then why not?

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