While the Hartford Colonials made a big PR splash by hiring a character, the Virginia Destroyers went out and got themselves a bonified coaching legend in Marty Schottenheimer. That is right folks MartyBall is coming to the UFL and that could be a very good thing for the Virginia Destroyers and fans of the United Football League.
The last we saw Marty he was the head coach of a 14-2 San Diego Chargers team and was fired for his failures in the post season. Let us not forget that this is one of a few men to take three different NFL teams to the post season, and while his record there may not be very good in the UFL that might not matter as much. In a league built around the regular season, with only one post season game MartyBall might make the Virginia Destroyers the early favorites to dethrone the two time champion Las Vegas Locos.
I have been a big fan of Marty for a long time now. He was the head coach of some very good Cleveland Browns teams when I was a kid, some pretty good Kansas City Chiefs teams when my love for football was growing, and the coach of the Chargers who did a lot of great things in the regular season. He also had a very forgettable run with the Washington Redskins but hey who hasn’t. Of course at the age of 67 we have to wonder if that will be a factor but in an 8 game season I don’t think that it will be.
Since the Destroyers will inherit the roster of the two time UFL runner up Florida Tuskers adding a guy like Marty to the mix could put this team over the top. Now the UFL features four coaches with strong ties to very good NFL teams and that should help pull more fans in. Let us be real honest here this is a league that needs to do everything it can to pull more fans in.
Related Links:
- Virginia Destroyers news and notes
- The Business of the UFL
- Joshua Lobdell.com