It was never a sure thing that Brian Schottenheimer would become the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. However, it was a near certainty he would remain with the franchise, whether or not he got the opportunity at a promotion.
Schottenheimer recently appeared on The Twins Take Podcast, where he was asked about the hiring process and if he was at peace with whatever happened. Schottenheimer’s wife, Gemmi, said they knew he would be back as the team’s offensive coordinator. The Cowboys coach went
on to explain that after conversations with Jerry and Stephen Jones, he knew he wanted to be in Dallas regardless of their decision.
Schottenheimer was already the offensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy in 2023 and 2024, but didn’t call plays. If he had remained in Dallas as the OC, it would have come at the recommendation of Dak Prescott, who Schottenheimer talked about later in the podcast as being a huge advocate for him to be the next head coach.
After hearing this clip, one might look at it and say it’s just the front office pushing another coordinator on an incoming head coach, like they did to Schotty with Matt Eberflus and Kellen Moore on McCarthy. Well, if they went with Robert Saleh or Leslie Frazier, having Schotty on staff who could run the offense with continuity would have been important.
Schottenheimer said he had an agreement in place to remain the Cowboys’ OC, but until the ink is dry, nothing is final. I wonder whether that would change if someone like Kellen Moore were hired as the team’s next head coach. Moore would also want to be the play-caller and was familiar with Prescott and Dallas, having previously been the OC, so keeping Schottenheimer around might not have worked out.
He did mention there were other teams trying to “court” him as an offensive coordinator before agreeing to stay in Dallas. If it were a choice between calling plays or sitting back in the same position he was for the previous two seasons, he may have gone elsewhere.
None of it came to pass as Schottenheimer’s goal all along was to become the tenth head coach in franchise history, and the front office fell in love with his vision for the team, its culture, and the offense. After having a unit that finished in the top ten of most statistical categories on offense, Schottenheimer is on the right path.
