Blogging The Boys
Here are some potential names that could join Brian Schottenheimer’s Dallas Cowboys staff.
Well, the Cowboys’ search for a head coach is over, and the name they settled on is practically the last name anyone expected when the job first opened up. Jerry Jones has decided to promote offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, son of the legendary Marty Schottenheimer, to head coach for the first time in his career.
Schottenheimer enters his new job with arguably the highest level of skepticism that any Cowboys head coach has ever had, and he’ll face a steep hill in earning the respect of the fan base. First things first is building out a staff to help him do just that, and we’ve got several names to watch as potential hires.
The first question that must be answered is whether or not Schottenheimer will seek to call plays as a head coach, as that will impact his pool of candidates for the coordinator job. Jane Slater had reported earlier that Schottenheimer intends to call plays in whatever role he holds next year, likely giving us the answer already.
Assuming that Schottenheimer will, indeed, be a play-calling head coach, that limits some of the names that could fill his offensive coordinator spot. Schottenheimer could seek to promote one of the position coaches already on staff.
Offensive line coach Mike Solari has a long history with Schottenheimer, and has been an offensive coordinator twice before in his career; Schottenheimer could promote him to coordinator and fill the same role Schottenheimer just did for McCarthy. Tight ends coach Lunda Wells is seen by many as a rising star, though he could also be reassigned to the offensive line if Solari is named coordinator.
Other names that Schottenheimer might seek to retain from the current staff, though not necessarily for a coordinator role, include offensive assistants Steve Shimko and Evan Harrington. Shimko has worked with Schottenheimer in two other spots before Dallas, while Harrington was a de facto assistant running backs coach.
Looking outside the team, Schottenheimer has several names he could seek to reconnect with from previous jobs. Commanders run game coordinator Anthony Lynn is a Texas native who overlapped with Schottenheimer on Rex Ryan’s Jets and has prior head coaching experience. Chargers wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal was also part of the Rex Ryan Jets and overlapped with Schottenheimer in Seattle and Jacksonville.
Will Harriger is the Panthers quarterbacks coach, but worked with Schottenheimer in Seattle, Jacksonville, and Dallas last year. Frank Cignetti Jr. is another piece of NFL royalty who worked as Schottenheimer’s quarterbacks coach with the Rams and has held coordinator roles at both the college and pro levels. And Rob Chudzinski, currently the associate head coach at Boston College, has shared a staff with Schottenheimer three times and also has prior head coaching experience.
As far as position coaches go, Schottenheimer has previous ties to quarterbacks coaches Austin Davis and Kerry Joseph, as well as running backs coach Quinton Ganther. He also...
