The Dallas Cowboys have their new head coach, and he is very familiar with the organization.
Team owner Jerry Jones told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday night that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will be the next head coach of the franchise.
He is expected to be introduced at a press conference on Monday morning.
Schottenheimer has been an assistant throughout the NFL for more than two decades and is now getting his first crack at a head-coaching job for one of the league’s most well-known franchises.
He spent the past two years as the offensive coordinator in Dallas.
The Cowboys offense ranked first and 21st respectively in points scored those two seasons.
While that looks like a huge drop from the 2023 season to the 2024 season, the Cowboys spent most of 2024 playing without starting quarterback Dak Prescott.
The Cowboys had interviewed Kellen Moore, Robert Saleh and Leslie Frazier for the job, while also having discussions with University of Colorado head coach — and former Cowboys player — Deion Sanders for the job.
In the end, Schottenheimer is the one who gets the opportunity. He will replace Mike McCarthy after he and the Cowboys were unable to come to terms on a new contract following the season.
While being the head coach of the Cowboys is a huge opportunity, it’s also going to be an extremely challenging job with high expectations. The Cowboys have not played in an NFC Championship Game (or a Super Bowl) since the 1995 season (the longest conference championship drought in the NFC), and have mostly been an afterthought for the past 30 years when it comes to postseason success. The roster has some big-name talent, but it also has severe flaws throughout.
As long as Jones has full control over the roster it is hard to imagine any of that changing anytime soon no matter who the head coach is. Head coaches, assistant coaches and players have all come and gone throughout the years, but the results have mostly remained the same. The only constant throughout it all has been Jones.
If Schottenheimer is able to turn the Cowboys back into a winner, he will become a Dallas legend. If not, it will just be more of the same mediocrity they have come to know.
