LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Norv Turner was named head coach of the San Diego Chargers on Monday, replacing Marty Schottenheimer who was sacked despite leading the team to the best regular season record in the NFL last season.

The hiring was confirmed on the Chargers Web site.

It will be Turner's third crack at a head coaching job after stints with the Oakland Raiders (2003-2005) and Washington Redskins (1994-2000) posting a combined record of 58-82-1.

Turner returns to San Diego where he served as offensive coordinator in 2001, taking over a team packed with talent led by record-setting running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers and which was 14-2 last season.

Schottenheimer was unable to translate the Chargers regular season success into a Super Bowl appearance, however, losing to the New England Patriots in the divisional playoffs.

Turner, the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator, was also a candidate for the vacant Dallas Cowboys head coaching position that went to Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

Considered an offensive mastermind, Turner helped design a Cowboys offense that won two Super Bowls and laid the foundation for productive attacks in San Diego and San Francisco.

Turner's golden offensive touch failed to produce results as a head coach, however. He was 9-23 during two seasons in Oakland and posted a 49-59-1 record with Washington, who he took to the playoffs just once.

Norv Turner? You can’t be Serious???
By VDawgg

Vdawgg’s Take: Before I get into this, let me say that, I’m quite confident that even I could coach the San Diego Chargers and get them into the Super Bowl next year. They have that much talent. In the end, it probably doesn’t matter who they ended up hiring - even if it was Norv Turner. Also in this take, I‘m not going to break down the candidates, because it was pretty much the same list of people vying for the Cowboy job, and I already did that in this article.

This marks the second time in the off-season where two coaches who have had terrible track records in the past (the other being Wade Phillips) have been signed by teams stocked with talent. And while I realize that all the good candidates were probably gone by now, it would have been better to sign an unknown commodity like Ron Rivera or Rex Ryan, as opposed to somebody who has obviously failed as a head coach. This is different then the Cowboys situation because the stars in San Diego, like LaDanian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates and Phillip Rivers, aren’t as volatile as the ones in Dallas. It would have been okay to hire a rookie head coach; I don’t understand the appeal behind guys like Turner and Phillips when a guy like Rivera could turn out to be another Eric Mangini or Lovie Smith. It just doesn’t make sense. Some of the blame on this one has to go to General Manager A.J. Smith, who has been called a control freak by numerous media outlets in the past.

In addition to that, I also have to feel sorry for Rivera because he not only didn’t get the head coaching job in San Diego, he didn’t get a contract extension by the Bears and ended up being the linebackers coach for the Chargers. On one hand, I can see why some people would be hesitant to hire him because the Bears are so talented on defense and you could wonder if their success had to do with the coaching scheme or if it was the players. But then again he probably could do just as well, if not better then a guy who has a career head coaching record of 58-82-1. And if not Rivera, then why not go with Rex Ryan, who not only was in charge of Baltimore’s great defense, but is also the son of former NFL head coach Buddy Ryan. In the end, it will probably be okay because like I said before the Chargers are extremely talented, but this one still is bothersome. 

VDawgg is a columnist for RGX Sports and will have a sports blog that will start posting in the near future. Information from Reuters News Wire Service was also used in this article. Any comments or emails can be sent to vdawgg_rgx@yahoo.com.