Brian Schottenheimer's message toward the end of the 2024 season takes a new meaning now that he's the Cowboys head coach
When then offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer talked to reporters ahead of the Dallas Cowboys' regular season finale, he talked candidly about his future. With Mike McCarthy's job in jeopardy and the coaching staff's contracts expiring alongside his, it looked like it could be Schottenheimer's last game coaching for America's Team. After becoming the new Cowboys head […]
When then offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer talked to reporters ahead of the Dallas Cowboys' regular season finale, he talked candidly about his future. With Mike McCarthy's job in jeopardy and the coaching staff's contracts expiring alongside his, it looked like it could be Schottenheimer's last game coaching for America's Team.
After becoming the new Cowboys head coach in 2025, his message takes a new meaning.
"There's not much I haven't seen in this business," Schottenheimer told reporters. "I saw what I think is a Hall of Fame coach by the name of Marty Schottenheimer get fired after 14-2. So what I've learned through the years is you're promised 17 games or 16 games, whatever it is, and you owe that to your team, you owe that to the players and the staff. And Sunday's going to come, we're going to play the last game, and we'll see what happens. But nothing surprises me."
Perhaps Schottenheimer is surprised now: He's gone from offensive coordinator in a hot seat to the new head coach of the Cowboys. The team announced a deal to make Schottenheimer the tenth head coach in franchise history.
Schottenheimer, son of legendary NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer, has 14 years of offensive coordinator experience at the professional level and will now assume head coaching duties for the first time in his career.
The 51-year-old coach rose as the betting favorite for the job over the weekend in unexpected fashion. Since then, multiple reports have suggested he was the in-house favorite but that the Cowboys wanted to interview outside candidates first. It's only fair to question how serious that search was considering they only interviewed the familiar Kellen Moore and Robert Saleh and Leslie Frazier. The latter wasn't interviewed for a head coaching job by any other NFL team.
Schottenheimer will now do what his father did for over two decades at the NFL level.
"It's a great profession, it's a tough profession, but the people are what make it special," Schottenheimer said in December. "And we've got some great people here—both coaches and players and administrative people—and I feel happy and blessed to be here."
Schottenheimer will probably feel happier and more blessed now that he's taking on the top job in Dallas. Though a controversial hire, it's his time to prove the doubters wrong.
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