Chiefs Coaching Connections

When Brett Favre played his first game for the Green Bay Packers, Brian Schottenheimer was a freshman at the University of Kansas.  When Favre was leading the Packers to a Super Bowl title, Schottenheimer was a senior at the University of Florida.

But after the smoke cleared on the Favre trade to the Jets last week, it’s Brian Schottenheimer as the offensive coordinator of the Jets, trying to break Favre into a new offensive system after 17 seasons in the NFL.  Favre will be 39 years old in October; Schottenheimer will be 35 years old six days later.

Schottenheimer is one of more than 30 NFL assistant coaches working this season that have a tie to the Chiefs.  They range from a pair of head coaches – Tony Dungy of Indianapolis and Mike McCarthy of Green Bay – to various coordinators and assistant coaches.

The guy in the spotlight now is Brian, the only son of former head coach Marty Schottenheimer.  He went to Blue Valley High School and then spent a year at Kansas before transferring to Florida so he could play and learn the passing offense from Steve Spurrier.  He coached at Syracuse, Southern Cal, the Redskins,  Chargers, Rams and one year with the Chiefs (1998) before he was named the Jets offensive coordinator in 2006.

Working with Schottenheimer and helping Favre with the transition to New York’s offense is Jimmy Raye, one of the longest tenured assistant coaches in the league.  Raye was tight ends, running backs and offensive coordinator for the Chiefs from 1992-2000.  That’s just a small window into his coaching career that began in 1971 and went from Michigan State, to Wyoming, the 49ers, Lions, Falcons, Rams, Bucs, back to the Falcons, Patriots, back to the Rams, Chiefs, Redskins, Jets, Raiders and back to the Jets.  That’s 32 seasons in NFL coaching.

Dungy spent three seasons (1989-91) as secondary coach for the Chiefs and McCarthy spent six seasons (1993-1998) as an offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach.

Here are the rest of the current NFL coordinators and assisstant coaches with ties to the Chiefs. 

Atlanta – former cornerback and Hall of Famer Emmitt Thomas (1966-78) is the assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for the Falcons; former strength assistant Jeff Fish (1999-2000) is the Falcons strength and conditioning coach. 

Baltimore – former offensive assistant Jim Hostler (2000) is the Ravens wide receivers coach and former offensive line coach John Matsko (2006-07) is part of John Harbaugh’s first coaching staff as Baltimore’s offensive line coach.

Buffalo – Nate Hackett,  the son of former Chiefs offensive coordinator Paul Hackett, is working as the offensive quality control coach for the Bills.  Also on the staff as a defensive assistant is Chuck Lester (1984-86.)

Carolina – former wide receivers coach Richard Williamson (1983-86) has been the wide receivers coach for the Panthers for the last 14 seasons.

Cincinnati – former tight end Jonathan Hayes (1985-93) is working as the Bengals tight ends coach.

Cleveland – former tight end Alfredo Roberts (1988-90) is the Browns tight ends coach.

Green Bay – former quarterbacks coach Tom Clements (2000) is the Packers quarterbacks coach; former defensive line coach Carl Hairston (1995-96, 2001-05) is Green Bay’s defensive line coach; former defensive backs coach, special teams coach and defensive coordinator Kurt Schottenheimer (1989-00) is the Packers secondary coach; fomer special teams coach Mike Stock (1995-2000) is Green Bay’s special teams coach.

Houston – former cornerback Perry Carter (1995) is a defensive assistant for the Texans.  This year former offensive line coach Alex Gibbs (1993-94) joined Houston’s staff with the title assistant head coach/offense.

Indianapolis – former offensive line coach Howard Mudd (1989-92) has been the Colts offensive line coach for the last 10 years.

Jacksonville – former linebacker Jack Del Rio (1987-88) is now the Jaguars head coach.

Miami – former fullback and running backs coach James Saxon ( 1988-91 as player/2001-07 as coach) is now handling the running backs for the Dolphins.

Minnesota – former tight end Jimmie Johnson (1994) is the Vikings tight ends coach; former special teams assistant Chad O’Shea (2004-05) is Minnesota’s offensive assistant/receivers coach; former linebackers coach Fred Pagac (2004-05) is  the Vikings linebackers coach.

New Orleans – former linebackers coach Joe Vitt (2000-03) is the Saints assistant head coach and linebackers coach.

New York Giants – former secondary coach Peter Guinta (2001-05) is the Giants defensive backs coach.

New York Jets – Schottenheimer and Raye

Pittsburgh – former quarterbacks coach Bruce Arians (1989-92) is the offensive coordinator for the Steelers.

St. Louis – former wide receivers coach and offensive coordiantor Al Saunders (1989-98, 2001-05) is the Rams offensive coordinator; former offensive assistant Bobby Saunders (2004-05) is an offensive assistant with St. Louis; former quarterbacks coach Terry Shea (2001-03, 05-06) is the Rams quarterback coach.

San Diego – former linebackers coach Ted Cotrell (1981-82) is the Chargers defensive coordinator; former wide receivers coach Charlie Joiner (2001-07) is San Diego’s receivers coach; former Chiefs cornerback Kevin Ross (1984-93, 1997) is the Chargers defensive assistant and former strength and conditioning coach Jeff Hurd (1998-2006 ) holds the same position in San Diego.

San Francisco – former linebacker Greg Manusky (1994-99) is the 49ers defensive coordinator.

Seattle – former offensive line coach and offensive coodinator Mike  Solari (1997-2007) is the Seahawks offensive line coach.

Tampa Bay – former wide receivers coach Richard Mann (1999-2000) is the wide receivers coach for the Bucs.

Tennessee – former offensive line coach Marty Galbreath (1985) is the assistant special teams coach for the Titans.