Smith looks worst in Chargers’ coaching mess

By Connor Byrne  |   Tuesday, February 13, 2007  |  Comments( 4 )

San Diego Chargers
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The San Diego Chargers had a chance to fire head coach Marty Schottenheimer after their epic collapse against the New England Patriots in the playoffs last month, but they didn't. Team president Dean Spanos and general manager A.J. Smith decided to ride it our for one more season with Schottenheimer, hoping the 63-year-old would be able to guide the Bolts' talented roster to a championship in 2007.

After Spanos and Smith made their choice, everything was copacetic at Chargers headquarters. Perhaps fictional San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy would describe it as "classy."

On Monday night, though, the Chargers shocked the football world by announcing the firing of Schottenheimer, who has a whopping 200 career victories. It was truly the shot heard 'round the NFL community, knocking nearly everyone off their feet.

It was well known that Smith and Schottenheimer weren't exactly exchanging Christmas cards, but the former truly comes out of this situation looking terrible. Schottenheimer had already lost much of his coaching staff this offseason to other teams, including offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and defensive guru Wade Phillips, and that frustrated Smith.

Smith supposedly became even more upset when Schottenheimer tried to bring in his brother, Kurt -- the Detroit Lions' ex-defensive coordinator and current Green Bay Packers secondary coach -- to replace Phillips as the D-coordinator. Because Smith disliked Schottenheimer's selections for his coaching staff, the G.M. took his problems upstairs and complained to Spanos.

Ultimately, Spanos chose Smith over Schottenheimer. Frankly, that was the right decision. Some might argue the 56-year-old Smith is the league's top personnel evaluator, while Schottenheimer isn't quite an elite head coach. But the decision didn't have to come now. It just proves that Smith is a fantastic front office executive, but his people skills need plenty of work.

It's hard to believe all this is happening to a San Diego team that finished last season an NFL-best 14-2. The Chargers, as seen before under Schottenheimer, were one and done in the postseason. That was reason enough to relieve Schottenheimer of his duties, but the time for that had long passed. San Diego should have just ridden it out for one more year with its beleaguered head coach.

The scouting combine, further draft preparations and the free agency period are looming large, and the Bolts aren't looking too good. They have no choice but to act quickly on finding Schottenheimer's successor. That won't be the main problem, though. Instead, the No. 1 issue will deal with whether the team's new head coach can put together a solid coaching staff so late in the game.

With all this instability, it's safe to say last year's regular-season juggernaut probably won't look as lustrous next season. Thank the usually tremendous A.J. Smith for that, Chargers fans.

cbyrne@realfootball365.com.

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