Georgia coach Mark Richt laughed when asked how he thought Brian Schottenheimer’s hiring as offensive coordinator has been received.
“I’m sensing a really positive vibe,” he said during Schottenheimer’s introductory news conference on Friday. “I didn’t search the Internet to see what might’ve tweeted out.”
By all appearances it has made a big splash, in the SEC as well as the NFL. The 41-year-old NFL veteran left his job as offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams to take over the Bulldogs’ offense. He accepted the job on Tuesday and began working in Athens on Wednesday.
The son of longtime NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer, Brian Schottenheimer has been a coordinator on the pro level since 2006 and hasn’t coached in college since he left Southern Cal in 2000. There are a lot of theories as to why Schottenheimer bolted St. Louis. Indications are he was in good stead with head coach Jeff Fisher. But Fisher’s long-term future with the Rams is uncertain, as is the future of the franchise itself. There are reports it could move pending stadium concerns.
But Schottenheimer insists he simply has a desire to return to the college game.
“College is something I’ve looked at for the last couple of years when I left the Jets,” Schottenheimer said. “I had an opportunity to interview with Nick Saban down at Alabama (2012); I ended up choosing to go to St. Louis. Last year, I actually interviewed for the Vanderbilt head coaching job and came up short with that. It’s been something I’ve been looking at for a while. I played in the SEC, I love college football. Just the chance to come to an elite program like this, obviously coach Richt is a huge part of the attraction for me. What they’ve done here, the history and tradition was a big part of it.”
Schottenheimer has also interviewed for NFL head coaching positions in recent years.
“Obviously I’d love to become a head coach at some point,” he said. “But I’ve also realized that the most important thing for me now is to be in a good spot, a place I believe in, a person I believe in. In this case I’m thrilled about college football. I see it as a new journey, a new start, really excited about it. I see myself in this game for a long time.”
Richt said he was not wary of Schottenheimer using the position as a steppingstone.
“I think Brian is very sincere about wanting to be significant in the life of young people and that’s kind of what’s kept me at the college level my entire career,” Richt said. “I always felt like this age group of guys were still moldable and teachable and I think we can make a difference in their lives. That’s what Brian articulated to the staff, about his desire to come back and also wanted to bless his family through the process. That’s kind of what helped solidify for me if he was serious coming to this level of football because it’s more than just Xs and Os when you deal with college student athletes.”
For Georgia and Richt, Schottenheimer’s attraction is obvious. With 18 total years of coaching experience, 16 of them in the NFL, he has the obvious know-how the Bulldogs are looking for from an X-and-O standpoint. And philosophically, he’s a staunch believer in the pro-style system Georgia employs.
Schottenheimer said he will learn Georgia’s current playbook rather than have 60 offensive players try to master his.
“Obviously I’ll have my fingerprints on it,” he said. “It’s going to be an easy fit, I think.”
With Schottenheimer’s appointment, the Bulldogs need to find an offensive line coach to succeed Will Friend. Richt said Schottenheimer will have significant input in that process
Georgia declined to release salary information on Schottenheimer but did say that he would receive a three-year contract. According to published reports, Schottenheimer was making “close to” $2 million when he was offensive coordinator for the New York Jets in 2012. His salary situation at St. Louis is unknown.
But the Bulldogs appear to have loosened their purse strings in the wake of the 2014 season. It has already approved a contract extension for Richt and an extension and $450,000 raise defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt (three years, $1.3 million). Richt also hinted that there are “some things cooking” for other members of his staff. He thanked “our administration” and President Jere Morehead in particular for giving him that latitude.
“A lot of these things are market driven, so to speak,” Richt said. “There are people that pursue our people at times and there’s just the fact there’s a cost of doing business at times as well. There’s a little bit of both that going on. But that’s really true everywhere.”
For the past two days, Schottenheimer has been reviewing video of recruiting prospects and talking to as many of them as he can on the phone. The current Bulldogs who will be playing for him next fall are clamoring to meet him as well.
“There were a lot of guys popping in the office trying to find out, ‘when’s he going to be here, can I meet him?’ That kind of thing,” Richt said. “We’re going to have a team meeting on Sunday to establish some things. Because we’ll all be there together, it’ll be a good time for Coach Schottenheimer to introduce himself to the team.”
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