Charlie Joiner calls it quits after 44 NFL seasons as coach, player

Hall of Fame receiver coach Charlie Joiner has been coaching the Chargers’ receivers since 2008.  But he won’t be part of the new coaching staff.

The Chargers have announced that Joiner has retired as 44 total NFL seasons.

He played from 1969 through 1986, with the Oilers, Bengals, and Chargers.  He immediately went into coaching, working with the Chargers from 1987 through 1991, the Bills from 1992 through 2000, the Chiefs from 2001 through 2007, and the Chargers again for the last five years.

Through it all, Joiner made it to only two Super Bowls, with no victories in the championship game.

“It’s time for retirement,” Joiner said. “This is definitely a young man’s game, and it’s time for new blood, new insight and new ways of doing things. I think the players need to be introduced to those new things. It’s time in my life that, at 65, I should be doing something else.”

Joiner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.