The Coach Comes Out

Bill Reiter: CHARLOTTE, N.C. | Before hitting the links, Marty Schottenheimer offers a warning.

"The coach in me always comes out," he says, his big blue-grey eyes bearing down with a sudden intensity. "I can't help myself."

Then he's out the door, shaking hands with people who call out, "Coach! Coach!" as he steps into a golf cart and zips off, past the tennis courts, toward the driving range.

This is where a man goes after 20 years as a NFL head coach, after 200 regular-season wins but none of the rings that matter. He heads to this stunning spot on the water at least twice a week, figuring things out day after day on strips of undulating green beauty so tough to play it makes you cringe to look at it.