Kurt Schottenheimer (born October 1, 1949) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach who was a position coach and coordinator at the college and professional levels for almost 40 years. During his

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) career, Schottenheimer coached with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and finished as the head coach for the

Virginia Destroyers The Virginia Destroyers were a professional American football team based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. They began play in the United Football League (UFL) in the 2011 season. They played their home games at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. The tea ...

of the United Football League.

College

Schottenheimer was a junior college

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Coffeyville Community College Coffeyville Community College (CCC) is a community college located in Coffeyville, Kansas, United States. It was founded in 1923. Coffeyville Community College is a member of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and the National Ju ...

, and led the nation in passing as a sophomore. The following year, he transferred to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, where he started for his remaining two seasons at defensive back. Schottenheimer was inducted into Coffeyville's athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

Coaching career

Collegiate coaching

Schottenheimer then pursued a coaching career in the college ranks, working as the defensive coordinator for

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

in 1974, the linebackers and defensive backs coach at

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

from 1978 to 1982, at

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

as the defensive backs coach in 1983, then as a linebackers coach for

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

from 1984 to 1985 and with Notre Dame in 1986.

Professional coaching

Schottenheimer's successful work at the college level interested NFL teams, and he was hired by the

in 1987, to be their special teams coordinator. He then accepted the same position with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1989, and remained there until 1994. Following his productive run leading the Chiefs special teams, he went on to coach Kansas City's defensive backs from 1995 to 1998, before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 1999. Schottenheimer spent three more seasons as a defensive coordinator in the NFL, serving one year with the Washington Redskins (2001) and two seasons with the Detroit Lions (2002–2003). He then served as the secondary coach in Green Bay from 2006 until 2008. It marked Schottenheimer's second stint with the Packers, having coached defensive backs for the team in 2004, before spending one year as the secondary coach for the St. Louis Rams (2005). Schottenheimer was hired by Head Coach Mike Singletary to be the San Francisco 49ers' special teams coordinator for the 2010 season. He was dismissed at the conclusion of the season following the team's firing of Singletary. After this, he joined his older brother,

Marty Schottenheimer Martin Edward Schottenheimer (; September 23, 1943 – February 8, 2021) was an American football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1984 to 2006. He was the head coach of the Kansas City ...

at the new

franchise of the United Football League. In September 2012, just prior to the start of the 2012 UFL season, Schottenheimer was named as his brother's successor as head coach of the Destroyers. However, the league suspended operations during the season, and the Destroyers ended the shortened season with a 1–3 record.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Schottenheimer is a graduate of Fort Cherry High School. He and his wife, the former Colleen Duffey, have two daughters, Steele and Sloane. His older brother

was head coach for four NFL teams, most notably the

, and was his predecessor as head coach of the

of the United Football League, where Kurt previously served as a volunteer defensive assistant. His nephew,

Brian Schottenheimer Brian Cornelius Schottenheimer (born October 16, 1973) is an American football coach who is currently a coaching analyst for the Dallas Cowboys. Schottenheimer most recently served as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the ...

, is currently a coaching analyst for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schottenheimer, Kurt 1949 births Living people American football defensive backs American football quarterbacks Cleveland Browns coaches Coffeyville Red Ravens football players Detroit Lions coaches Green Bay Packers coaches LSU Tigers football coaches Miami Hurricanes football players Michigan State Spartans football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches United Football League (2009–2012) head coaches Virginia Destroyers coaches William Paterson Pioneers football coaches Washington Redskins coaches National Football League defensive coordinators People from McDonald, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania