Chargers Ax Schottenheimer

The San Diego Chargers fired head coach Marty Schottenheimer on Monday. Chargers president Dean Spanos issued a statement in a press release saying, "Today I made an extremely difficult decision: Marty Schottenheimer is no longer the head coach of the San Diego Chargers."

Spanos cited events of the past month and said, "It is not possible for our organization to function at a championship level under the current structure. On the contrary, and in the plainest possible language, we have a dysfunctional situation here. Today I am resolving that situation once and for all."

Spanos explains his "about face" saying, "When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact." "Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case, and the process of dealing with these coaching changes convinced me that we simply could not move forward with such dysfunction between our head coach and general manager.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, there has been an Icy rift between Schottenheimer and Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith. Reportedly, they have hardly spoken directly to each other since January.

Both Chargers' coordinators also recently left the team, along with two other key coaches. Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron left the Chargers earlier this month to take the Miami Dolphins head coaching job. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips took the head coaching job in Dallas. Rob Chudzinski, who was the team's tight ends coach, left the Chargers in January after being named offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. Assistant strength and conditioning coach Matt Schiotz followed Cameron to Miami.

Schottenheimer had a year left on his contract. As a result, the Chargers will owe him more than $3 million, but Spanos said it is a sacrifice that needed to be made to give the Chargers the best possible chance to win on the field this season. "I had to act to change this untenable situation and create an environment where everyone at Charger Park would be pulling in the same direction and working at a championship level. I expect exactly that from our entire Charger organization in 2007," Spanos said in his statement.

The Chargers now begin their hunt for a new head coach. The Chargers went 14-2 in 2006 under Schottenheimer, but the post season ended with a 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

Sources: San Diego Chargers; The San Diego Union-Tribune