Friday nights are usually quiet evenings, but it wasn’t the case on January 24th for the fans of the Dallas Cowboys, who reacted with a mix of anger and disappointment after their team announced Brian Schottenheimer, the offensive coordinator, as the next head coach of the popular franchise that has gone almost 30 years without a title.
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The choice will place someone very well known to star quarterback Dak Prescott in the position of head coach, who worked closely with Schottenheimer the last two seasons when former coach Mike McCarthy was in charge of the plays.
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Prescott wanted McCarthy to return, but surprisingly the renewal fell through and both parties ended negotiations. That forced the Cowboys to enter the coaching search market late.
Who is the new head coach of Dallas?
Schottenheimer is the ninth coach hired by owner Jerry Jones since the controversial businessman bought the team in 1989 and fired the only coach the Cowboys had had during their first 29 seasons, Tom Landry, a Hall of Fame member.
This is the seventh strategist hired by Jones since the last time the Cowboys advanced beyond the divisional round of the playoffs in 1995, when the club won its fifth Super Bowl title.
Schottenheimer, 51, is the son of the late NFL strategist Marty Schottenheimer and has 25 years of experience as a coach in the NFL, including 14 as an offensive coordinator, but none as a head coach. He joined the Cowboys as a consultant in 2022 and moved to the role of offensive coordinator a year later when McCarthy took over play-calling duties.
The Cowboys conducted a virtual interview with Eagles' offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who was in charge of Prescott's plays from 2019 to 2022; and held in-person interviews with two former head coaches, Robert Saleh and Leslie Frazier. Additionally, Jones had an informal conversation with the University of Colorado coach, Deion Sanders.
Moore (with whom the Cowboys could not meet in person because his team is in competition) and Sanders were more to the fans' liking. Schottenheimer's seems like a low-risk bet, with someone well-known, but not necessarily someone who will bring Cowboys fans the Super Bowl they long for.