Last month, Dallas Cowboys announced that Brian Schottenheimer would be promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach. The decision came after Cowboys and Mike McCarthy did not reach an agreement on a contract extension.
Schottenheimer’s promotion has been met with some warm reactions from fans and even some of the cowboys’ former star players. Emmitt Smith is the latest franchise that is great at expressing dissatisfaction with long -time team owner Jerry Jones’ decision to enter the 2025 season with Schottenheimer at the helm.
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The former Dallas, who runs back Emmitt Smith, shakes his hands with the owner Jerry Jones after being presented with his Hall of Fame ring during a game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, November 21, 2010. (Matthew Emmons- USA Today Sports)
Smith, who spent most of his Hall of Fame career with cowboys, suggested he would take a patient approach to Schottenheimer’s coaching period in Dallas.
“I want to reserve most of my comments on a later date, but right now I’m just soft in it,” Smith told the Sports Lens late last month. “What happened and tries to analyze where we go from here and what it will look like. I don’t even know who he has on his staff yet, who he preserved, who he got rid of, who he brings in”
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Smith followed up these comments by warning that Cowboys’ 2025 campaign could be disappointing, given his belief that the franchise’s problems go beyond the one who carries the head coach’s headset on the sidelines.
Dallas Cowboy’s main coach Brian Schottenheimer and owns Jerry Jones talking to the media during a press conference at The Star. (Tim Heitman-Preferred Pictures)
“The next topic,” Smith said during a recent appearance on ESPN Radio’s “UnsportsMan -like” when asked about his feelings about Schottenheimer’s employment. “I have no reaction. I just don’t know what to say. I know we have to give the man a chance and I am willing to give him a chance, an opportunity to turn things around. If We donate ‘I do not adjust our vision and commitment to the vision, I think we will get a lot of things that we have seen in the past and it does not feel good.
“We need a lot more than Ashton Jeanty. All that talks about having a run back and a running game – there’s nothing wrong with our running games when there’s a commitment to running games … I think, We’ve come so far away from what we all know as Cowboys’ big team.
Emmitt Smith participates in the game between Augustana Vikings and Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 4, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. (Lance King/Getty Images)
Jones contacted the former cowboys star and current Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders during the hiring process. Jones later characterized his interaction with Sanders as more of a conversation with someone, he had a personal relationship with rather than a formal job interview.
“Just a conversation about the team and about where he is and his boys, conversation with his boys, that type of conversation,” Jones said. “I’ve said I’ve talked to a lot of coaches and Deion has a job.”
Smith said that going over Sanders left him and felt disappointed. “It is kind of disappointing that he was not considered high enough from an opportunity point of view as high enough to do so,” he said. “But as I said some things have to play themselves out.”
Michael Irvin, who won three Super Bowls during his great career with cowboys, has also expressed his dissatisfaction with Jones, who decided not to move on with Sanders as the team’s coach.
Cowboys finished the 2024 season with a 7-10 record. Quarterback Dak Prescott missed nine games due to a hamstring injury.
