Marty Mornhinweg expects to be head coach again

PHILADELPHIA -- Want to find out if Marty Mornhinweg craves another head coaching job in the NFL?

Just ask.

"I'll be a head coach again," Mornhinweg, the Eagles offensive coordinator, said Thursday during an interview at the NovaCare Complex. "I might go coach a youth football program just to get some wins."

His smile widens -- but only for a second or two. A little humor, then on to the next subject.

Like how much his family loves Philadelphia, how he can walk from his townhouse to the practice facility, or finding the perfect run-pass ratio to balance the Eagles offense.

Those are the things Mornhinweg, entering his fourth season with the Eagles and second in charge of the offense, is immersed in 24-7, 365 days a year.

But don't kid yourself. Beneath the humor, there's a serious tone about his next coaching venture.

"Quite possibly, one of these days, I'll get an opportunity," he said. "Things might be a little better."

He won't call it a bitter taste, but Mornhinweg still has unfinished business from those two abysmal seasons he coached the Bad News Bears of the NFL, the perennially awful Detroit Lions.

It's not the head coaching legacy he'd like to leave behind, but if there's one positive he took from Detroit, after five seasons as an[..]istant in Green Bay and San Francisco, it's that the next place can't be just any place.

The next place must be the right place, the right organization, with the right kind of people in charge.

"I've been in four [NFL] organizations," he said. "Three have been great, top to bottom."

Five head coaching jobs opened and were filled this offseason -- Miami, San Diego, Dallas, Arizona and Pittsburgh -- without a mention of Mornhinweg's name. His offense ranked sixth in points a game (24.9) and second in yards a game (381.4) last season.

Only San Diego, Dallas and Super Bowl champion Indianapolis scored more touchdowns than the Eagles (49), and no team averaged more yards a play (6.2).

Former Houston Texans general manager Charlie Casserly, an NFL analyst for CBS Sportsline.com, did extensive work tracking head coaching changes during the offseason.

Any buzz for Mornhinweg?

"I did not hear his name at all, anywhere," Casserly said.

Which is just fine with Mornhinweg, 45. You won't find him hanging by the phone or sending out feelers. His next move isn't to get a head coaching job; it's trying to figure out how the Eagles offense can function most efficiently or which training camp battles must be resolved.

He hasn't placed a timetable on his second chance, but he'd like to find that right opportunity within the next few years.

"But it still comes down to perhaps somebody having a relationship with him and the Eagles having continued success," Casserly said. "It's a combination of both things."

While the Lions still seek a franchise savior -- they haven't had a winning season since 2000 and haven't played a postseason game since 1999 -- Mornhinweg quietly has repaired his image in Philadelphia.

In two seasons with Detroit, 2001 and 2002, he watched five first-round picks be scraped off the roster for various reasons. Three other Lions, including linebacker Stephen Boyd, suffered career-ending injuries.

He went through three quarterbacks his first season, the last being Mike McMahon, and lost his first 11 games. The following year, he won just three games. Not once did the Lions win a road game in those two years.

His 5-27 overall record matched former Browns coach Chris Palmer's mark for fewest wins as an NFL head coach in a two-year span.

On the flip side, 17 of those losses were by fewer than 10 points, a statistic Mornhinweg said rarely gets mentioned.

"I'm glad I went through that," he said. "That's one of the toughest situations I can be in. If I got another opportunity, that experience would be a tremendous help."

The downfall of Mornhinweg's career in Detroit came Nov. 25, 2002, on a breezy day at Champaign, Ill., temporary home of the Chicago Bears. Headed into sudden-[rip] overtime of a 17-17 game, Mornhinweg curiously elected to kick instead of receive after the Lions won the coin flip.

He remains convinced that he made the right decision. The Bears were driving against the wind, with their backup quarterback (Jim Miller), and neither team had scored going against the wind that afternoon.

No matter.

Chicago marched downfield and won the game on Paul Edinger's 40-yard field goal. Criticism of Mornhinweg came from every corner imaginable.

Four months after the game, an ESPN.com Page 2 ranking of the 10 worst coaching decisions in sports placed Mornhinweg's call third.

"The people who were there and know all the information ... know that it was the right call," Mornhinweg said. "It was the right call then, it's the right call now, and it's the right call 10 years from now."

Has the call -- and the subsequent fallout -- tarnished his image?

"I can't imagine anybody would even think about it," Casserly said. "I've forgotten about it, totally. Every coach is going to have a situation where he makes a call that's second-guessed or doesn't come out right."

Quarterback Jeff Garcia, who went to the first of his three straight Pro Bowls with San Francisco after working under Mornhinweg and resurrected his career last year in Philadelphia, vouched for the coach's reputation.

"I think Marty definitely doesn't have any fear," he said. "Marty is a very knowledgeable guy, he knows his system as well as anybody and he does a great job of always being a step ahead.

"He does a great job of knowing situations and being prepared for those situations and being able to get the right play called. That's a special talent. Not everybody can do those sorts of things."

Source: http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/p...67/1022&theme=

*waits for him to win the coin toss in OT then decides to kick the ball, eventually losing the game*

i dont care if there was a hurricane with driving winds of 100 MPH against me, i'd never kick in overtime

lol, that stupid jackass, you'd have to be on crack to hire him at a pro level...

i remember my dad flipping over a table when he kicked the ball in overtime, thats the first time i had seen the man seriously heated over a lions football game...mornhinweg is a dumbass

man !! marty !![..]

that was the worst !!in thing ever that happen to detroit.....

man I was heatedddd that game.....

LOL @ that OT !! still fresh in everyone's mind....his stupid[..], if i was GM, i wouldnt even hire him to clean the toilets

hmm idc ...he's balancing out the offense and letting westbroook play a bigger part thus helping mcnabb out ...so i cant say much

but really

[Herman Edwards] YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!! [/Herman Edwards]

i bet the raiders would be dumb enough to hire him

speaking of the raiders, if art shell got another shot...there might be hope for marty's stupid[..]

you like the chiefs....gtfoh [pic]