Dallas Cowboys Owner and general manager Jerry Jones, as unpredictable as he can be at times, chose to get acquainted with the team’s new head coach.
Dallas has promoted Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Scottenheimer to become the franchise’s 10th head coach – and the ninth under Jones’ ownership since 1989 – the team announced Friday evening. Schottenheimer’s contract will be for four years, by The Dallas Morning News.
“Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant,” Jones said said, via ESPN. “He’s not Brian anymore. He’s now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”
Jones places a high value on comfort, so Schottenheimer meets that criteria after being with the team since 2022. He worked as a consultant that season before becoming Dallas’ offensive coordinator in 2023 when Kelly Moorewho held this position from 2019 to 2022, assumed the same role for the Los Angeles Chargers this offseason.
Mike McCarthy, the team’s head coach for each of the last five seasons, brought on Schottenheimer as a consultant following a 2021 season in which he was quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for the first overall choice. Trevor Lawrence on Urban Meyer Jacksonville Jaguars staff. The Jaguars were the of the NFL worst offense that year, averaging 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 head coach at the time.
It should be noted that Schottenheimer was not the offensive player in Dallas in 2023 or 2024, as McCarthy took over that responsibility when Moore left. (Calling plays is something McCarthy has made a career of, particularly as Green Bay Packers head coach.) 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 Lamb CeeDee leading the league in receptions (135) in 2023. Dallas’ offense took a major step back in 2024, with Prescott going down for the season in Week 9 with a torn hamstring, but no ‘having not been drafted. Rico Dowdle rushed more than 1,000 meters.
Schottenheimer provides continuity for Prescott, another element that Jones greatly appreciates. Upon hiring McCarthy as the team’s head coach in 2020, Jones requested that Moore be retained on McCarthy’s incoming staff as offensive coordinator. This arrangement worked for three years until McCarthy opted to return to the point guard role in 2023. Schottenheimer has 12 years of offensive playmaking experience as an offensive coordinator with the New York Jets (2006-2011), Rams (2012-2014) and Seattle Seahawks (2018-2020).
Brian Schottenheimer as OC and offensive play caller
|
2020 |
SEA |
28.7 |
8th |
|
2019 |
SEA |
25.3 |
9th |
|
2018 |
SEA |
26.8 |
6th |
|
2014 |
STL |
20.3 |
21 |
|
2013 |
STL |
21.8 |
21 |
|
2012 |
STL |
18.7 |
25 |
|
2011 |
NYJ |
23.6 |
13th |
|
2010 |
NYJ |
22.9 |
13th |
|
2009 |
NYJ |
21.8 |
17th |
|
2008 |
NYJ |
25.3 |
9th |
|
2007 |
NYJ |
22.2 |
25 |
|
2006 |
NYJ |
19.8 |
18th |
Now here’s the elephant in the room with the Cowboys making Schottenheimer a first-time NFL head coach: Jones wishes he had the future Hall of Fame Cowboys tight end. Jason Witten in the next technical staff as assistant/”heir apparent” before eventually becoming the head coach of Dallas at one point. Jones’ Witten request to McCarthy would have been one of the main points of friction in the two sides separating. Schottenheimer, as a rookie NFL head coach, could be someone who would entertain a request to add Witten, whose only coaching experience is at the private high school level in Texas.
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If Witten were to be hired as an assistant on Schottenheimer’s staff, it could make him Jones’ Wade Phillips 2.0. somehow. Phillips became the Cowboys’ head coach in 2007 after the departure of Hall of Famer Bill Parcells, and Jason Garrett, one of Jones’ favorites after being a longtime Cowboys quarterback in the years of glory of the 1990s, was hired in 2007 as the team’s offensive coordinator after just two years of NFL coaching experience with the Miami Dolphins as Nick Saban’s quarterbacks coach (2005-2006). Garrett was given the title of assistant head coach in addition to the role of offensive coordinator in 2008. He became the team’s full-time head coach in 2011 after serving as an interim in Dallas in 2010 following Phillips’ firing during the season.