Cowboys Hire Schottenheimer as Next Head Coach

Eleven days after announcing their divorce from coach Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, as erratic as he can be at times, made a move to choose familiarity with the team’s newest head coaching hire.

Dallas has elevated Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to be the franchise’s 10th head coach in the organization’s history, and the ninth under Jones’ ownership that began in 1989, the team announced late Friday night. Schottenheimer’s deal will be for four years, according to The Dallas Morning News.

“Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant,” Jones said, via ESPN. “He ain’t Brian no more. He is now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Jones values comfort and loyalty, so Schottenheimer fits that mold perfectly after being affiliated with the team since 2022. He worked as a consultant that season before becoming Dallas’ offensive coordinator in 2023 when former backup quarterback Kellen Moore, who served in the position from 2019-2022, took the same role for the Los Angeles Chargers that offseason.

McCarthy, the team’s head coach for each of the last five seasons, brought Schottenheimer in as a consultant following a 2021 campaign in which he was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for first overall pick Trevor Lawrence on Urban Meyer’s Jacksonville Jaguars staff. The Jaguars were the NFL’s 32nd ranked scoring offense that year, averaging a dismal 14.9 points per game. McCarthy began his NFL coaching career with the Kansas City Chiefs (1993-1998) working under Schottenheimer’s father, Marty, who was the head coach at the time.

It is worth mentioning that Schottenheimer did not call plays in Dallas in 2023 or 2024 as McCarthy took that duty back when Moore walked out the door. Calling plays was something McCarthy has made a career out of, particularly as the Green Bay Packers head coach alongside four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers. The Cowboys led the NFL in points per game (29.9) with quarterback Dak Prescott leading the NFL in touchdown passes (36) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb leading the league in receptions (135) in 2023. Dallas’ prolific offense plunged dramatically in 2024 with Prescott going down for the season in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons with a hamstring tear, but undrafted running back Rico Dowdle did rush for more than 1,000 yards.

Schottenheimer provides stability and continuity for Prescott, so that he does not have to learn a new system, another component Jones values highly. Upon McCarthy’s arrival as the team’s head coach in 2020, Jones made an unusual demand that Moore be retained on McCarthy’s incoming staff as the offensive
coordinator. That arrangement was tolerated for three years until McCarthy chose to return to his bread and butter, the play-caller role in 2023. Schottenheimer does have 12 years of offensive play-calling experience under his belt as an offensive coordinator with the New York Jets (2006-2011), Rams (2012-2014) and Seattle Seahawks (2018-2020).

Here is the downside of the Cowboys making Schottenheimer an NFL head coach for the first time: Jones reportedly desires to have future Hall of Fame Cowboys tight end Jason Witten on the next coaching staff as an assistant/”heir apparent” before he eventually becomes Dallas’ head coach at some point in the future. Jones’ Witten request to McCarthy was reportedly one of the major sticking points in the two sides parting ways. Schottenheimer, as a rookie NFL head coach, could be someone who would accept an ask to add Witten, whose only coaching experience is at the private high school level in Texas.

If Witten were to be hired as an assistant on Schottenheimer’s staff, that could make him Jones’ Wade Phillips 2.0. of sorts. Phillips became the Cowboys head coach in 2007 following Hall of Famer Bill Parcells’ departure, and Jason Garrett, a Jones’ favorite from being a longtime Cowboys backup quarterback in the 1990s glory days behind Troy Aikman, was hired in 2007 as the team’s offensive coordinator after only two years of NFL coaching experience with the Miami Dolphins as Nick Saban’s quarterbacks coach (2005-2006). Garrett received the assistant head coach title in addition to the offensive coordinator role in 2008. He became the team’s full-time head coach in 2011 after serving as the Dallas interim in 2010 after Phillips was relieved of his duties midway through the season.