Schonert's snap judgment
Supreme self-confidence has been the hallmark of Bills' offensive coordinator
Cris Collinsworth likes to say that his good friend and former Cincinnati Bengals teammate, Turk Schonert, is confident to a fault.
Take, for instance, when Schonert is playing golf.
"Turk has the ability on the golf course to go on streaks where he'll play 2 under par for six or seven holes," Collinsworth said. "And he can hit it eight miles. But when he gets hot, everybody who plays against him knows that when he steps up to the tee box, we all start whispering. "Man, Turk you are unbelievable. I've never seen anybody hit the ball as far as you.' Inevitably, that's when he starts reaching a little farther back and starts whacking them out of bounds. So we've learned to play his ego."
While ego and golf can be a dangerous combination, supreme confidence is a virtue when it comes to both playing quarterback in the NFL and coaching the position, the most scrutinized, pressure-filled spot on the field.
Self-assurance is a strength Schonert brings to his new job as offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills.
"If I'm going to hire somebody to be around my quarterbacks," said Collinsworth, "I want somebody who is going to help them believe they are kings of the earth. I want them to have a swagger. I want them to have an arrogance. I want them to be smarter than everybody else in the room. Turk is going to instill that into his quarterbacks."
Schonert, 51, has been waiting his whole professional life for a break like the one he got when Bills coach Dick Jauron promoted him to succeed Steve Fairchild in January. His career is a study in patience.
He waited three years in college to get the chance to start, then as a senior at Stanford was forced to share time with a freshman named John Elway. He was good enough to last 10 seasons as a player in the NFL but spent them waiting for a chance that never truly came. He was the No. 2 man in Cincinnati almost his whole career behind stars Kenny Anderson and Boomer Esiason.
His latest stint as a Bills assistant is his sixth stop in 13 seasons as an NFL coach. Schonert has had the unfortunate habit of signing on with head coaches who promptly get fired. His last three jobs before coming to Buffalo in 2006 were one-and-done seasons.
Walsh's coaching tree
It would be incorrect, however, to say hard luck has defined Schonert's career. Besides the fact he has managed to stay in the game for going on three decades, he has learned the game from a string of renowned offensive minds.
It started his first two years in college at Stanford, where he played for Hall-of-Famer Bill Walsh, developer of the West Coast offense. Even though Walsh had moved on to the San Francisco 49ers by the time Schonert started at quarterback, Schonert thrived in the Walsh system, leading the nation in passing efficiency as a senior.
The education continued with Jim Fassel, Schonert's offensive coordinator his senior year at Stanford and later Schonert's boss with the New York Giants. Then there was Lindy Infante, who orchestrated some of the best NFL offenses in the 1980s. He was Schonert's first offensive coordinator in Cincinnati. Then there was the biggest influence on Schonert's career, Sam Wyche, who pioneered the no-huddle offense in Cincinnati and led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in 1989.
It was Wyche who pulled Schonert into the coaching profession in 1992 upon being hired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"When I got the job in Tampa, Boomer called me and said, "You're crazy if you don't hire Turk to be your quarterback coach,'‚" Wyche recalled.
Schonert's mastery of the fundamentals dates to Walsh.
"Techniques, mechanics and progression are things he stressed," Schonert said. "He emphasized footwork and ball-handling, things that at the time a lot of people didn't talk about."
Wyche built upon Walsh's system. His aggressive approach meshed with Schonert's take-charge attitude.
Even though he started only 12 games in 10 seasons, Schonert impressed teammates with his knowledge and can-do attitude.
"You knew he had the aptitude to be a coach," Esiason said. "He was remarkably composed. I remember my first couple years going over to the sideline, and Sam would be yelling at me and telling me 50 different things. Turk would calm me down and say, "This is why we're doing what we're doing,' "
The highlight of Schonert's playing career came in the 1981 season opener, when he relieved Anderson and rallied the Bengals from a 21-0 deficit to a 27-21 victory. That started Cincinnati on a run to its first Super Bowl appearance.
"If you want to know the closest personality that you have to Jim Kelly since I've been following the Buffalo Bills, it's Turk Schonert," Collinsworth said. "Turk could throw three straight interceptions in a game and walk back to the sidelines and say, "OK, I've got it now. I know what they're doing.' Turk couldn't throw it the way Jim Kelly could throw it, but he thought he could."
The QB carousel
There have been no Jim Kellys on the teams Schonert has coached. Schonert suspects he holds a dubious record for NFL quarterback coaches. He had a different opening-day starting quarterback in each of his first 11 seasons as an assistant.
The names: Vinny Testaverde, Steve Erickson, Steve DeBerg and Trent Dilfer (all in Tampa); Rob Johnson, Doug Flutie and then Johnson again (in Buffalo); Chris Weinke (Carolina); Kerry Collins (New York Giants); Aaron Brooks (New Orleans); and finally J.P. Losman (Buffalo) in 2006.
When Losman started the 2007 opener it broke Schonert's streak of change, but the continuity was short-lived, since Trent Edwards soon took over.
"To me it teaches you not to overload those young guys," Schonert said. "You've got to put them in situations where they can be at their best."
Schonert's most impressive results arguably have come in Buffalo. In his first stint under Wade Phillips, Schonert and offensive coordinator Joe Pendry made continual adjustments to the offense to accommodate the skills of Johnson and Flutie.
While Schonert never showed favoritism during the Flutie-Johnson drama, it was apparent he recognized shortcomings in Johnson's style early on.
Witness a Schonert quote on Johnson during their first minicamp together: "There's a different mentality you have to take as a starting quarterback as opposed to a backup quarterback. You can't be "one of the guys' out on the field when you're the starting quarterback. .‚.‚. You've got to pay attention, you've got to be focused, and you've got to demand it from the rest of your teammates. That has to happen, and Rob hasn't gotten that [concept] yet."
Schonert offers only a wry smile when reminded of that quote now.
"There was some division in the locker room, and when there is division in the locker room and things start to go south it makes for a bad situation, an uncomfortable situation," Schonert said.
Nevertheless, the Bills' offense ranked 12th, 11th and ninth those three seasons.
In 2006, Schonert overhauled Losman's mechanics to help him improve his completion percentage from 49.6 to 62.5.
Now Schonert is charged with trying to get Trent Edwards to build off a solid rookie season.
"Trent is very mature for a young guy, very poised," Schonert said. "His pocket presence, and his all-around presence and awareness caught you. It was something that stood out last year as a rookie."
There is nowhere to go but up for the Bills' 30th-ranked offense. Schonert vows the attack will be more aggressive and more diversified (read: less predictable). He vows to get the ball more to Lee Evans. He will give Edwards the ability to audible, something that was almost never an option last season.
"One thing I think will be a little different with Turk is he will take input from everybody," Collinsworth said. "The guy they had there last year (Fairchild) went into a cave and made the game plan and came out and said "here it is.' You had seven other coaches sitting around. .‚.‚. That's just not who Turk is. He's a people person, he's fun to be around. He'll make the game fun and he'll make those quarterbacks confident."
