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After five seasons as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy was shown the door on Jan. 13 to the surprise of many. After not allowing the Chicago Bears to speak with McCarthy during their head coaching search, most believed Dallas would offer a respectable deal to a coach who delivered three straight 12-win seasons from 2021-23.
Now, ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler is shedding light on the situation and why the Cowboys opted to move away from McCarthy in favor of new head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
“If they could’ve found some common ground on the number of years on a deal, he would still be there,” Fowler said. “As of a couple of weeks ago [that was the perception]. They just couldn’t.”
More on the Brian Schottenheimer hire on @SportsCenter with @RandyScottESPN pic.twitter.com/fZknU74QcV
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 25, 2025
As recently as last year, Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones put his full confidence behind McCarthy, stating, “I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach. There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach… Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals.”
A coach of McCarthy’s caliber usually isn’t available on the open market, but the timing of recent events will make it difficult to land a job in 2025.
After initially being denied an interview with the Bears while still under contract with Dallas, McCarthy was finally able to sit down and speak with Chicago on Jan. 15. Despite that, the Bears went another direction, hiring former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson earlier this week.
Other now-filled vacancies include the New England Patriots, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, and Jacksonville Jaguars. That means McCarthy’s last option this offseason is with the New Orleans Saints.
McCarthy is set to interview with the Saints next week, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter says the pairing “makes a lot of sense” due to McCarthy’s “deep ties and connections to the organization.”
McCarthy spent five years in New Orleans as the team’s offensive coordinator, beginning in 2000 where he earned NFC Assistant Coach of the Year honors from USA Today. In 2002, the Saints led the NFC in scoring with 432 points and the franchise set 25 individual offensive records during his tenure in the Big Easy.
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