This week you may have heard that former Browns coach Marty Shottenheimer died at 77 years old. Upon hearing this many of us were taken back to a different time.  I know I was.

Marty was the Browns head coach in the mid and late 80's and was the General of some great teams. The Kosar led Browns, that in my opinion were the best team in the AFC then. It was also the first and last time the Browns were really poised to win a Superbowl. Some very bad luck of course prevented that a few times. The Browns today are seemingly headed that way and that's great to see.  He was a powerful head coach for the Browns and a few other teams and ended up with 200 career wins. Seventh on the all time list.  Who knew?

His famous quote to the Browns of, "There's a gleam, men....there's a gleam...let's get the gleam!"  That goes down in
Browns lore as a great quote, delivered by a cerebral coach to a hungry team, on the sports biggest stage before the biggest game of all of their lives.  Emploring them to get the gleam of a champion.  Without The Drive, and The Fumble in successive years, that quote would be what is really remembered, not the heartbreaking losses.

Marty At His Best

Marty is still the last Browns coach to have back-to-back winning seasons with the Browns.  Now, Kevin Stefanski will pass that, and hopefully pass him in winning an AFC title game (or two) too.  Marty was a winner, he was a coaching warrior, and for some reason is not in the Hall Of Fame.  True, no title, but the only coaches ahead of him are, Don Shula, George Halas, Bell Belichick, Tom Landry, Curly Lambeau, and Andy Ried.  He has more than Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, (sorry Steeler fans x2)  Bill Parcells, and the father of the Browns and of modern football, Paul Brown.  

He won wherever he went, and that includes here.  I think he's the best coach the Browns have had in my lifetime.  I wish he would have stayed a few more years back then, but you lose disagreements with the owner, and trust me in those days, Art Modell let everyone know he was the owner.  But to me, I would rather think of those teams not as teams that were heartbreaking losers of huge games, but as the great team they were. And they were great, because Marty made them great. His Browns teams were among the best in franchise history. 

Put him in the Hall, and the Browns should honor him this year, for the year. Although his football style was very different, he was the Kevin Stefanski of his time.  We have reason to be excited about Browns football at last, post Marty.

"There's a gleam, men....there's a gleam...let's get the gleam!"