Blogging The Boys
The latest news around the Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys decided their fourth interview for a head coach would be an in-house candidate.
The Cowboys are interviewing offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for their head coaching gig, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Jane Slater reported on Tuesday, per sources informed of the situation.
The 51-year-old Schottenheimer spent the past two seasons as the Cowboys offensive coordinator. He joined Dallas in 2022 as a coaching analyst.
The son of Marty Schottenheimer, Brian has extensive assistant coaching experience. His first NFL gig came in Washington as QB coach in 2001 under his father. Since then, he’s worked as a QB coach or OC for seven organizations. His first OC job came in 2006 with the New York Jets, a position he held for six seasons. He joined St. Louis in 2012 as the Rams offensive coordinator for three seasons. He also led the Seattle Seahawks offense for three seasons from 2018 to 2020.
Schottenheimer has never been a head coach or interim.
If Jerry Jones landed on Schottenheimer, it would provide some continuity for Dak Prescott and the offense after Mike McCarthy’s exit.
Here is a great breakdown of what you should know about Schottenheimer.
Familiarity with Dak Prescott, others
One of the biggest motivators for Jerry Jones in considering Schottenheimer, according to reports, is his familiarity with Dak Prescott and other players on the roster. Schottenheimer is said to be well-liked within the locker room, and his relationships with players is believed to make for a smoother transition than hiring an outside candidate.
Of course, the counterargument to this notion is that the Cowboys should have just done what it took to retain Mike McCarthy if the concern was having a coach the players like. After all, Prescott and several other players publicly voiced their support for McCarthy.
Nevertheless, Schottenheimer’s hire would likely serve as a continuity hire. This may allow the team to hold on to Mike Zimmer at defensive coordinator, as well as Al Harris and several other promising assistants on the coaching staff.
Offensive continuity
In that same vein, Schottenheimer would almost certainly be hired with the idea of offensive continuity in mind. While he didn’t call plays the last two years, Schottenheimer was heavily involved in crafting the offensive game plans with McCarthy and therefore would likely keep things more or less the same offensively.
It’s unclear if Schottenheimer, who hasn’t called plays in four seasons now, would look to call plays as a head coach or bring in someone as a coordinator to call plays for him. Either way, though, don’t expect a Schottenheimer coaching staff to introduce a ton of change offensively.
In some ways,...
