I could actually see him being a better HC than OC. Everywhere Schottenheimer goes, players seem to stick up for the guy. He apparently runs a very tight ship as OC. He seems to be the go to for guys to go to set things on the right path. As an OC he isn't the best, but he wasn't bad either. He was largely just an illusion of whatever the HC wanted him to be. I'm not exactly sure what his philosophy is since he's worked in so many different systems and largely conformed himself to whatever system he was in.
I expect either an unmitigated disaster or a surprise power house. The main thing about Schottenheimer that I'm hearing is price. Jerry's son wanted somebody cheap as HC and it was his son that was pushing for this deal.