The Dallas Cowboys officially named Brian Schottenheimer their next 10th head coach in franchise history Monday afternoon at The Star in Frisco, Texas. He'll take over for Mike McCarthy—who parted ways with the organization two weeks ago.
During Schottenheimer's introductory press conference, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones revealed that if it weren't for one aspect of his job responsibilities moving forward, the offensive coordinator-turned-head coach may have not accepted the job:
"Mike [McCarthy] was going to call the plays if he were here," said Jones, via Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. "Schotty wouldn’t have been here had Mike stayed and called the plays. [Schottenheimer] was ready to go somewhere, and he had opportunities to go call plays [elsewhere]."
#Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said that new HC Brian Schottenheimer be the offensive playcaller. In fact, Jones said Schottenheimer had offers from other teams to call plays and was prepared to leave unless he had that responsibility here. pic.twitter.com/w2PiXEi4fO
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) January 27, 2025
The Jones's granted his wish, and Schottenheimer will be in quarterback Dak Prescott's ear calling the offense in 2025. The 51-year-old first-time head coach detailed his relationship with the Cowboys signal caller on Monday:
“Dak and I have an incredible relationship..." Schottenheimer explained. "Dak and I know how to push each other's buttons, we know how to have hard conversations. ... The competitor in him is special."
"He's the type of worker that changes an entire organization," the head coach later continued. "And I think he and I see the game of football offensively very, very similar. We'll have tons of communication moving forward on some of the thoughts we wanna do, whether it's tempo or, some of the different things we're trying to do with our play-action passing game, the run game, things like that. He's easy to talk to and love and respect him along with all those guys."
Schottenheimer—a long-time NFL offensive coordinator—last called plays during his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. The 51-year-old has been the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks, and the University of Georgia over his nearly 30-year coaching career.
With McCarthy calling the offense and Prescott out for most of the season with a hamstring injury, the Cowboys were just 21st in points per game (20.6) in 2024-25 and just 16th in yards per game (328.4).
They'll look to improve those numbers—as well as their number of wins—under Schottenheimer's watch.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen Jones Says Brian Schottenheimer Almost Left Cowboys Over Play-Calling Duties.
