The Dallas Cowboys have settled on the 10th head coach in their 65-year history and – in something of an upset, which is all too familiar in a different sense to his family’s football lineage – Brian Schottenheimer has been tabbed as the new leader (sort of) for “America’s Team.”
Schottenheimer wasn’t viewed as a leading candidate when this job opened last week. To be clear, he comes with extensive experience, patrolling NFL sidelines in various capacities since 1997, minus a few brief gigs in the college ranks. He’s worked on Dallas’ staff the past three seasons and served as the offensive coordinator since 2023.
That doesn’t necessarily mean this is a total slam dunk of a promotional hire for the Cowboys, who made the announcement late Friday night (well off the league’s typical news cycle), but it definitely lends itself to some winners and losers:
WINNERS
Dak Prescott
Continuity was important to the Dallas quarterback, who’s set to enter his 10th season after a blown hamstring cut his ninth short. But Prescott’s best year in the NFL occurred in 2023, when he led the league with 36 touchdown passes and was the runner-up for MVP. Former coach Mike McCarthy was calling the plays then, but Schottenheimer had a front-row seat to what worked so well. The goal moving forward will clearly be to get the QB back at that level of production, which Prescott didn’t approach in 2024 even before going down for good in Week 9.
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Deion Sanders
A star cornerback when the Cowboys last won the Super Bowl 29 years ago, he was linked to the Dallas HC post almost from the moment McCarthy and the team opted for a mutual break-up after his contract expired. Yet for all the hype Sanders generates, he’s still a relatively inexperienced head coach, one who didn’t come close to winning the Pac-12 in 2023 nor the new-look (read: diminished) Big 12 in 2024. This isn’t to say Sanders might not be a strong candidate here eventually given his legendary background, sharp mind and understanding of the Dallas market – but the circumstances would need to be ideal given the numerous conditions he’s already placed on a potential jump to the NFL. They didn’t feel quite right at present, and that could have spelled disaster given the likelihood he and owner Jerry Jones – both known for headstrong personalities – would eventually collide at a time when Sanders might not be on a more level field as he continues to learn the ropes of the profession.
Ashton Jeanty?
Or maybe Rico Dowdle? Or fellow free agent Najee Harris? Or fellow free agent J.K. Dobbins? Or maybe UNC’s Omarion Hampton? The point being, Schottenheimer’s best offenses – and those that have been part of the most successful teams he’s coached for – have featured a strong ground game. Though the Cowboys, who pick 12th in Round 1 of the 2025 draft, have several needs, running back appears to be one, and that could be a logical spot to target Jeanty, the highly regarded former Boise State star and two-time All-American who led the country with 2,601 rushing yards in 2024. Regardless, expect the Cowboys, who ranked 27th rushing the ball in 2024 – and that was despite a strong finish from Dowdle, who’s a free agent himself – to put a much bigger emphasis on their ground attack under Schottenheimer.
The Schottenheimer legacy
Schottenheimer is the son of the late Marty Schottenheimer, whose 200 regular-season wins are the most in league history … for a coach who never won a championship (and was 5-13 in the playoffs). Despite more than 50 combined years as NFL coaches, neither Schottenheimer has served on a staff that even reached the Super Bowl.
But Brian now has an opportunity, if not completely golden, to remedy that. Positioned to complete the third decade of their infamous championship drought, the Cowboys will hardly be viewed as Super Bowl 60 favorites. Yet it’s rare for a rookie head coach to take the reins of a team with an established quarterback who’s still squarely in his prime and with star power at so many key positions. Dallas should only be a good draft and a few targeted moves in free agency from returning to relevance – and in a division that constantly changes hands and that the Cowboys have won two of the past four seasons. This ain’t exactly Barry Switzer taking over for Jimmy Johnson, but it’s still a heck of an opportunity for Schottenheimer, who hasn’t been an especially prominent candidate in the annual coaching cycle for quite some time.
Experienced coaches
Six of the league’s seven coaching vacancies have now been filled – four by men who are at least 49 years old, suggesting the NFL continues to move in a direction where experience and culture seem to be more valued than young, hotshot coordinators. Schottenheimer, 51, was hired the same day the Las Vegas Raiders settled on 73-year-old Pete Carroll.
Jerry Jones
Of course, the Cowboys are still his team. Now he’s installed a coach who will neither command top dollar nor has the juice (or likely stomach) to challenge Jones from running this franchise how he sees fit – which is just how he wants it – despite the decidedly mixed results that approach has produced for decades.
LOSERS
Jerry Jones
Perhaps elevating Schottenheimer will prove a stroke of genius for an 82-year-old owner desperate to win his fourth Lombardi Trophy – and without the assistance of Johnson’s mastery as a team builder and talent evaluator. But what is almost certain is that Jones is likely to get roasted by his widespread fan base for this move rather than re-signing McCarthy, who was quite popular in the locker room, or importing Bill Belichick or bringing back Kellen Moore, whose relationship with Prescott runs even deeper than Schottenheimer’s following their time together as teammates prior to Moore’s stint as Dallas’ OC (2019-22). And given how this “search” went down – from the failure to keep McCarthy, to the buzz generated by Sanders to … this – it’s hard to shake a feeling that this is a (very) temporary move preceding the next one.
Brian Schottenheimer’s legacy
Maybe he’ll get a fair shake, all of Jones’ coaches this century getting at least a three-year run. And while Schottenheimer has factors working in his favor, he’s going to have shakier job security than recently extended Prescott and will have to be deferential to Jones on football matters – and probably even staffing decisions, such as the possibility he’ll have to hire, say, legendary Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, a favorite of Jones’ who has no NFL experience as an assistant but has nevertheless remained front of mind here as a future candidate. It all shapes up as a very tough needle to thread for Schottenheimer in what may be his only HC shot.
Mike McCarthy
“Loser” is too strong a label given what a strong five-year run he had in North Texas plus the fact he decided to explore other pastures. But McCarthy didn’t get the Chicago Bears gig that Jones initially refused to let him interview for when Dallas had exclusive negotiating rights to him. Maybe McCarthy gets the call from the New Orleans Saints – the last remaining team with a vacancy – two decades after he was their offensive coordinator. Regardless, hard to see McCarthy finding a situation as good as the one he seemed to have in Big D.
CeeDee Lamb
Like Prescott, the perennial Pro Bowl receiver had his best professional campaign in 2023 and set several team records with Schottenheimer as the nominal offensive coordinator. But like Prescott, Lamb fell off – by his impressive standards – significantly in 2024, a shoulder injury that cut his season short by two games part of the problem. But moving forward, it’s worth wondering where Lamb’s numbers will settle. The 2023 Dallas offense was the only one in Schottenheimer’s 14 seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator that even ranked in the top 10 – and half of those clubs failed to crack the top 20. Schottenheimer was raised by a man who believed in running the ball and that was before working extensively for the likes of Rex Ryan, Jeff Fisher and Carroll, all avowed ground-and-pound advocates. That’s not to say Lamb can’t still be a superstar – and should be based on what Jones is paying him – but he may not enjoy nearly the target volume he became accustomed to under McCarthy.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.