Martyball

Book excerpt: No coach in National Football League history endured more playoff heartache than Marty Schottenheimer. Despite racking up two hundred regular-season victories (only five coaches in the entire ninety-year history of the NFL ever won more games), Marty never reached the Super Bowl during his coaching career. Martyball tells the story of a man who persevered through an avalanche of misfortune and playoff agony that would have brought most men to their knees. But Marty never lost sight of why he fell in love with coaching in the first place: he wanted to teach and mold men through the game of football. Based on more than one hundred hours of interviews with Marty, his players, assistants, family, and friends, this book will give readers a look into the mind of an exceptional coach, and explain why he never gave up or succumbed to self-pity despite a long streak of bad luck. Get the background on Schottenheimer’s life, from his childhood in rural Pennsylvania to his playing and coaching careers in pro football, and learn why he kept believing in the game he loved—and how he found valuable lessons about life and football beyond each and every loss.