Tag Archives: kansas city chiefs

NFL

McNair, Todd

Card: Score 1990
Acquired: Houston Oilers Training Camp 1994

During the advent of the 3rd down back, Todd McNair was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs out of Temple in the 8th round of the bell-weather 1989 draft. A solid, yet unnoticed presence in the backfield during the early nineties of the venerable ground game of the Kansas City Chiefs that included such names as Christian Okoye and Barry Word, McNair not only was a solid blocker, but also a smart receiver out of the backfield – devastating on both draws and delays.  He’d score a critical touchdown in the playoffs against Houston in 1993, and in 1994 would be signed away from Kansas City by the Oilers. Unfortunately, McNair and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride had a fallout, and Todd was relegated to the scout team. The Oilers collapsed and Bud Adams cleared house, appointing Jeff Fisher as head coach. McNair saw his playing time increased exponentially in 1995, averaging over 7 yards a carry and catching 60 passes.  During training camp in 1994 I’d get his autograph as he walked to the locker rooms. After his two season stint with Houston, Todd returned to Kansas City in 1996 and retired.

He’d immediately jump into coaching and by 2001 was back in the NFL coaching the Cleveland Browns running backs. In 2004 he was recruited by USC, where he coached running backs and special teams. He’d also develop quite a knack for recruiting high school athletes. Unfortunately NCAA investigations in 2010 found USC guilty of improprieties in regards to Reggie Bush and his contact with agents. McNair was not retained when USC put a new coaching staff in place as the NCAA levied charges against him. At this time McNair is appealing the charges against him.

G/Gs 107/10    Att 147       Yds  803    Avg   5.5   Lg   47     Td  3   |
Rec  254     Yds  2435   Avg  9.6   lg 65   Td  7

NFL, WLAF

Gailey, Chan

Cards: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o The Buffalo Bills
Sent: 3/12    Received: 3/19  (7 days)

Georgia born Chan Gailey, has been coaching at the college or pro level now for roughly 35 years, working at a variety of levels before being hired to coach with the Denver Broncos in 1985 and is considered a member of the Dan Reeves coaching tree. He’d spend the next 6 seasons there culminating in the offensive coordinator job, before he became the head coach of the Birmingham Fire in 1991. Making his mark with the team in nearby Alabama, Gailey’s team would make the playoffs both years of the WLAF’s existence. The teams’ were surprisingly known not for their offense, but rather a staunch defense that kept the team in most games. After the 1992 season and the WLAF folded, Chan briefly returned to the NCAA football level, but in 1994 he’d be hired by the Steelers where he’d stay through 1997. He’d serve as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 1998 and 1999, but could never shake the image as Jerry Jones’ puppet and that his teams were not tough enough. Even though his teams would make the playoffs both season and lose after the first round, (and Troy Aikman felt that Gailey was a prehistoric dinosaur) Chan would not be detained as the Cowboys head coach. He’d be hired almost immediately to be offensive coordinator of the Dolphins in 2000 staying there through 2001, before returning home to Georgia Tech in 2002. His name got consideration for the head coaching jobs in both Pittsburgh and Miami.  Gailey would coach Tech through 2007 and then be hired by the Chiefs in 2008 as offensive coordinator, but was demoted and not retained by the team. In a surprising move by the Buffalo Bills, in 2010 the team announced Chan Gailey as the team’s 15th head coach partially on a recommendation by former head coach Bill Cowher of the Steelers.

Gailey’s offensive philosophy is one that adapts itself to the players available on the team and along his stops, outside of his current one here in Buffalo, have been good at maximizing very average talent while more importantly hiding those players inefficiencies.  The charge against him in response to this is that his teams’ offenses have been charged with being too conservative.  I jump at the chance to get WLAF autographs and I got his autograph in a quick 7 days from the Bills office. I wish him all the luck but I honestly sent off so quickly for him because I haven’t given him much of a chance up there. The Bills have become a graveyard for good coaches. Below are his WLAF statistics.

W 12      L  7       T  1        Pct .600

AFL, NFL, ufl, wfl

Schottenheimer, Marty (1943-2021)

Card: Proset 1990
Acquired: TTM 1994, C/o The Kansas City Chiefs

Linebacker Marty Schottenheimer was selected in by both the AFL (Buffalo, 7th round) and NFL (Baltimore, 5th round) of their respective 1965 drafts out of the University of Pittsburgh. He spent 4 seasons on the Bills roster (where it was comically shown on the retrospective “Full Color Football” that Schottenheimer’s name was so long on his jersey the type ran off the name plate and onto his right shoulder). He’d earn All Star honors in 1965, and be traded in 1971 to the Pittsburgh Steelers and again to the Boston Patriots before retiring.

Schottenheimer went into coaching in 1974 and worked for the Portland Storm in the World Football League as a linebackers coach, but before you knew it, less than 10 years after he got drafted by the Bills- Marty was coaching linebackers for the Giants in 1975. He’d then coach for the Lions on another 2 year stint, before catching on in 1980 with the Cleveland Browns as defensive coordinator where he established a smash mouth defense. In 1984, he’d get his chance as head coach, when Sam Rutigliano was fired midway through the season. He’d then be the face of the Browns for the next 4 seasons through 1988. The Browns would experience a consistent slate of respect and success during the Schottenheimer era. He’d also establish what is commonly referred to as ‘Marty Ball’ and the team would lose two heartbreaking games in the playoffs, known as ‘The Drive’ and ‘the Fumble’. With the reemergence of the Oilers in 1988 as playoff contenders, the Browns hosted them in the first round of the playoffs. Although favored to win, the Browns lost by a point. After the season was over Marty was fired, which angered many fans. His legacy with the team over 4 seasons was a large one, as he finished with a 44-27 record and a 2-4 mark in the playoffs. The Browns also advanced to the deepest levels of the NFL playoffs since before the AFL merger under his guidance.

Schottenheimer was not on the market for long. He’d head over to the Kansas City Chiefs to coach there for the next 10 seasons turning the team from a laughing stock into playoff contender in the span of 2 seasons. He’d win over 100 games with the franchise and the Chiefs would make the AFC Championship game in 1993. The Chiefs won the division 3 times and made 7 playoff appearances over 10 seasons. After quitting due to a disappointing 1998 season, Marty served as an analyst for ESPN for a season or two, and then was hired to be coach of the Washington Redskins in 2001.

Sights were high for the capital city after Schottenheimer came to town that year and the media circus quickly circled Marty. With Deion Sanders ducking out the back door and quickly announcing his retirement to get away from Marty, controversy erupted. Schottenheimer installed his brand of Martyball and the team was off to a slow start out of the gate losing its first 5 games. The media portrayed Marty as being outdated and out of touch with the current league, both with players and in offensive philosophy. The Redskins would respond by winning their next 5 games- (a first in NFL history) and narrowly missed the playoffs at 8-8 . In fighting between Schottenheimer and owner Daniel Snyder,  led to Marty’s dismissal after one season.

Marty was quickly named coach of the San Diego Chargers, where he’d guide the team to two playoff appearances and named coach of the year in 2004. Despite posting a 14-2 record in the latter season he was fired. -The first coach to be fired after securing the home field advantage through the playoffs. The reason for his dumping ranged from the fact that he had a 0-2 playoff record with San Diego, to charges of nepotism as he brought on more of his family on board as coaches. A public fight between the Chargers and Deion Sanders didn’t help either, when Sanders announced his ‘unretirement’ to come back to the league to play for the cross state Raiders, Schottenheimer quickly nabbed his rights before the Raiders. Sanders tore the team for its archaic practices and swore never to play for the team. In the end, the Bolts continued to hold Sanders’ rights throughout the season. Anyway regardless of it all, Schottenheimer was fired in what was considered without cause and still collected his salary for the next season, which damned the franchise even more.

Marty was rehired to be an analyst by ESPN where he did an excellent job for the network. After the Jets victory in the 2009 playoffs last season over heavily favored San Diego Chargers, coached by Marty’s replacement, he received a game ball in the mail from the team. (His son coaches for the Jets and Rex Ryan felt his firing was an injustice to the game.) I really lobbied hard and hoped the Texans would hire Schottenheimer after they released Dom Capers, but they went with Gary Kubiak instead.

Marty wanted to return to coaching and was rumored to have been in line for the Buffalo Bills job in 2010, but the team went in a different direction. In 2011, Marty Schottenheimer created quite a buzz when he signed to coach with the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL. He won the UFL championship later that year, and as the league collapsed, he opted to retire.

I got Marty’s autograph after the 1992 season through the mail in a few week’s time.

Games 327     Wins 200     Losses 126     Ties  1       Pct .613%

UPDATE 2/9/21- Marty Schottenheimer has passed away from Alzheimer’s disease.

Schottenheimer’s greatest legacy besides the sheer number of victories is the impact of his coaching tree. A Lou Saban apostle, Schottenheimer has many notable coaches that have been under his wing including: Marvin Lewis, Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy. Marty Schottenheimer is the winningest coach in the NFL (retired), not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with 14 winning seasons in a 21 year career.