It's been more than four years now since Marty Schottenheimer passed away.
In that time, his son Brian has become a fixture in the Dallas Cowboys organization.
Less than two months after his father died on Feb. 8, 2021, Brian Schottenheimer was hired by the Cowboys as a consultant. Then he became Dallas' offensive coordinator. And finally, in January of this year, he was hired as the franchise's head coach.
Thusly, Sunday marks Brian's first Father's Day without his dad since he took the Cowboys reins for his first NFL head coaching job. And Brian knows that somewhere his dad is sporting a prideful smile.
"I know he's proud," the Cowboys rookie head coach told reporters on Thursday. "I miss him. I would tell him that I used all the life lessons that he taught me, not just about football, but about life and being a good man and a good husband and a good father, and that I think I'm doing OK for myself. But I know he's proud; I miss him like crazy."
In a year of firsts for the 51-year-old Schottenheimer, he wrapped up his initial mandatory minicamp as Dallas' head coach on Thursday. Schottenheimer was asked how he honors his father's legacy and if there's anything he would like to say to him.
"Wow, you're going there, huh? Last day of minicamp," Schottenheimer grinned.
Fathers, sons and football often go hand and hand through the autumns.
Such has no doubt been the case for the Schottenheimers.
Marty Schottenheimer was a one-time AFL All-Star linebacker who played four seasons for the Buffalo Bills and two more for the Boston Patriots from 1965 through 1970. Thereafter, he began a long and distinguished NFL coaching career, manning the sidelines as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington and the San Diego Chargers.
Brian Schottenheimer became an NFL coach in 1997 as a St. Louis Rams assistant and would later join his father with three teams. Now he's arrived as the Cowboys head coach.
Early returns for the Cowboys are raves about how the younger Schottenheimer has uplifted spirits and endeared himself to players.
It's very much a like-father-like-son scenario in his eyes.
Marty Schottenheimer's 200 regular-season wins are seventh all time, but that he fell short of a Super Bowl berth was a stigma that followed him. In his son's eyes, though, the impact he left on his players and the reverence they have for him is the legacy.
"Legacy to me, you know I think it starts with people," Schottenheimer said. "To this day I go out on the field for a game, and I will have two or three different individuals come up to me and say, 'Excuse me, Coach, you have a second?' And I know exactly where they're going, and I of course drop what I'm doing because I want to hear it. And they say, 'Your father changed my life,' and it's former players. And so, he never won a Super Bowl, he won over 200 games in the NFL, but I would put his legacy up against anybody who's ever coached in the National Football League."
From 1975 through 2006, Marty Schottenheimer was a fixture on the NFL sidelines, with 26 as a head coach. Following a battle with Alzheimer's, he died at the age of 77. Through the years he had Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, Herm Edwards, Art Shell and Bruce Arians among his assistants. Mike McCarthy, Brian's predecessor in Dallas, was also an assistant. And now, his son Brian adds to the long list of NFL head coaches who spent time as a member of Marty Schottenheimer's staff at one time or another.
To this day, Brian relies on his father's wisdom and his father's friends to help him through his NFL odyssey, which enters uncharted seas in 2025.
"I actually lean on some of his friends now, you know guys like Bill Cowher that he coached with," Brian said. "But Father's Day will be a special day. I'm obviously a father of two amazing kids, and I'll talk to my mom, and I know he's looking down on me."
