Marty Schottenheimer, the coach with the eighth highest number of wins in NFL history, has died at died at the age of 77.
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014, and died on Monday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, his family said in a statement.
Known for his passionate pre-game speeches and a smash-mouth brand of football that spawned the term 'Martyball', Schottenheimer went 200-126-1 in regular-season games from 1984 to 2006 while coaching the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, and the then Washington Redskins and San Diego Chargers.
Current Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said: "My heart goes out to the Schottenheimer family. Marty was a friend and someone I admired greatly.
"He was an outstanding mentor to me as a young football coach, and one of the most passionate coaches I've ever been around. He did things the right way. He was great for the league and really revived this franchise during his time here. I'm honoured I had a chance to get to know him and his family. My thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time."
Schottenheimer's coaching career began in Cleveland in 1984, and two seasons later he led the franchise to the first of back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship Game. Both times, however, they lost to the Denver Broncos, and both times in heartbreaking fashion.
Postseason shortcomings will forever be associated with Schottenheimer, who was just 5-13 in the playoffs.
After mutually agreeing to leave the Browns following the 1988 season, he coached the Chiefs from 1989-98 and led Kansas City to six consecutive playoff berths from 1990-95, but his teams only won postseason games in two of those seasons.
He then spent one season with the team now known as the Washington Football Team, going 8-8 in 2001, before coaching the Chargers from 2002-06, where he once again enjoyed some regular-season success without a single playoff win to show for it.
In 2006, his Chargers were 14-2 and had the AFC’s top seed but lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 24-21 in the divisional round. A month after that defeat he was fired.
In his 21 seasons as coach, his teams won 10 or more games 11 times – including five seasons with 12 or more victories – but he never made it to the Super Bowl.