Some guys just see it better than the rest of us. Marty Mornhinweg had a long and prosperous career scheming to make defenses look bad.
Numerous stops as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach around the NFL resulted in high-flying offensive juggernauts. He was rewarded with an induction into the Montana Football Hall of Fame in June surrounded by nearly his entire family.
“This turned into a mini family reunion. I got to play golf with three of my four kids. My oldest daughter flew in around midnight. My mother, 80-year-old mom, is in," Mornhinweg said of the event.
Mornhinweg was surrounded by star talent everywhere he went. From Terrell Owens, to Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson, he’s coached some of the game’s most dynamic playmakers. A gunslinger up in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin had one of the more memorable moments in Mornhinweg’s coaching career.
“I was really fortunate to coach some of the greatest players ever to play in the game. First-ballot Hall of Famers, great players. We would break franchise records really at every stop, I believe. Offensive records," Mornhinweg said. "Obviously winning the Super Bowl was big. There was a play in that game. The second offensive play for the Green Bay Packers, the great Brett Favre audibled to a blitz-beater. ‘Black-74 razor. Black-74 razor.’ Bam! And threw a touchdown on the second play of the Super Bowl. That was fascinating.”
Mornhinweg was a record-breaking quarterback at the University of Montana, and his time in Missoula left an imprint on him. Mornhinweg and his wife currently live in Missoula, while one of his sons plays football at Carroll College over in Helena. He’s passed on as much of that football knowledge to his kids, at least while he still could.
“When they got their driver’s license, they didn’t ask me as much, but they needed me before they got their driver’s license. Once they got their driver’s license, now they’re working out with their teammates. When they would ask me, man, I would jump and roll when they would ask me after that point, but we’ve had fun," said Mornhinweg. "They would go, everybody would go to Camp Marty. It was about a three-day family camp, mostly football, some softball, in the summer when I was off. It was just us and it was awesome.”
Being retired has its perks. While Mornhinweg jokes about feeling busier than he was during his coaching days, he’s got an awful lot more time to spend on the golf course. He's a member at Missoula Country Club.
“I’m, I just looked at it, I believe a 15.3," Mornhinweg said of his golf handicap. "I’ve been lower than that in the past, around a 12. I don’t hit the ball as far as I used to. I don’t practice as much. I might take a few swings then go play, so my score’s not like it was when I was, let’s say, 30 I was playing my best golf. But I didn’t grow up with it, I learned it at like, 26. For me, somebody that didn’t grow up with it, I need three weeks of hard work to play some pretty good golf.”
Mornhinweg will probably find a scheme to dissect the links soon enough.
