Former NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer died Monday after handling Alzheimer’s disease for many decades

Schottenheimer has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 2014. He was transferred into a hospice facility close to his home in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Jan. 30 because of complications from the irreversible, progressive brain disease.

Schottenheimer was a head coach for 21 seasons in the NFL, leading to the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington along with also the Chargers.

He also posted a 205-139-1 career record, including the playoffs, leading his teams to the postseason 13 times. Although Schottenheimer coached in three AFC Championship Games, just two with the Browns and yet one with all the Chiefs, he never left a Super Bowl.

His NFL coaching career ended in 2006 after a 14-2 year with the Chargers and a divisional-round exit from the playoffs.

Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson played under Schottenheimer for five seasons with the Chargers and called him”the best coach I ever had.”

“I went into a match with Marty as mentor feeling like I wasn’t fully ready to win,” Tomlinson said. “He actually wanted you to understand every facet of the game plan. I believed him a real All-American man. He was a fantastic father figure, and I was blessed that my wife and I got to understand he and [his wife] Pat beyond the normal player and coach relationship. He had been a well-rounded human being. He cared about the man than the athlete. I will remember him more for the life lessons he taught me.”

He is survived by his wife, Pat, two children, Kristin and Brian, and four grandchildren.

Brian Schottenheimer recently reached agreement to develop into the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing-game coordinator, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, after previously serving as offensive coordinator of their Seattle Seahawks.

“We know he is looking down on us from heaven and smiling,” his daughter said. “We’re so incredibly proud of this guy he was and how he lived his entire life .”