After a seven-year battle with Alzheimer's disease, former Cleveland Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer has died at the age of 77, according to ESPN.

Schottenhemier started his coaching career before his time as the Browns head coach, serving as the linebackers coach for the New York Giants in 1975 and 1976, the defensive coordinator for the Giants in 1977 and the linebackers coach for the Detroit Lions in 1978 and 1979. He was hired as the Browns' defensive coordinator in 1980.

His break as a head coach came with the Browns in 1984, when he replaced Sam Rutigliano, and he got his first full season as a head coach in 1985. That year, Schottenheimer and quarterback Bernie Kosar, who had just been selected in the 1985 supplemental draft, began an era of success in Cleveland that surpassed even the Kardiac Kids-era that fans had rallied around.