Dallas Cowboys hired Brian Schottenheimer, their offensive coordinator, as the team’s next head coach, announcing the move on Friday with a Jerry Jones message attached to it.
“Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant,” Jones said pr. Espn. “He’s not Brian no more. He’s now known as head coach of Dallas Cowboys.”
The rent comes with a shock to some and a surprise to many, as Cowboys’ process this season has been a head-crasher.
CLICK HERE for more sports cover at Foxnews.com
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer of Dallas Cowboys during the NFL game against Arizona Cardinals at the State Farm Stadium on September 24, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals defeated Cowboys 28-16. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Cowboys fans expressed their opinions on social media and they were not too happy with their team’s choices.
“Hiring Brian Schottenheimer as a head coach without once trying to talk to Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn or other top candidates is 1000% the same thing as not to call Derrick Henry and just sign zeke,” said a fan of X. “Same. Exactly .
Sign up for TUBI and Stream Super Bowl Lix Free
To understand where cowboys fans may come from, one must understand the strange process the team went through since Offseasons began.
First, the dilemma of Jones and the rest of the organization was what to do with Mike McCarthy, the veteran head coach who went 7-10 in the last year of his deal without quarterback Dak Prescott for a good part of the season.
Players like Prescott and others publicly expressed their support for McCarthy, but the cowboys went on.
In doing so, however, they were already behind the 8 balls, as other main coach-needle troops were already out of conducting interviews and getting their candidates in order.
When Dallas got their list together, it was an interesting group. Robert Saleh, the ex-new York Jet’s head coach, who was fired in the middle of the 2024 season, came in despite not being high on anyone’s list except for Jacksonville Jaguars. Eventually, he returned to the Bay area to assume his old job as a defensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan.
Dallas Cowboy’s offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer looks at before the game against New York Giants at AT&T Stadium on November 28, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
There was also Pete Carroll, who ended up returning to the NFL by taking Las Vegas Raiders job. Kellen Moore, the former cowboy’s offensive coordinator, who is now with Eagles, came in for an interview, just like Leslie Frazier, who acts as assistant head coach of Seattle Seahawks.
While these candidates all have their credentials, fans were not happy that top candidates like those mentioned above, all of which have landed elsewhere, never entered the building.
Fox Sports’ David Helman broke the situation down from a cowboys process perspective.
“We don’t know that Brian Schottenheimer will be a failure more than we know Ben Johnson will be a success,” he posted X. “Coaching hiring is weird and difficult to predict.
“We know that it is enough of bad process to adorn around for eight days with a head coach who needs a new contract fails to keep him after missing an interview window for coveted candidates, bring two former head coaches who do not is in high demand, an external assistant you already have a relationship with and * so * choose the guy down in the hallway that a) does not draw interest elsewhere b) has not been head coach c) has not called plays for you and d) have had mixed results when he has previously called an offense.
Finally, some feel that Schottenheimer looks like Jason Garrett, who took over the job after Wade Phillips, which he worked under, was fired.
Dallas Cowboy’s offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer during training camp at River Ridge Fields. (Kirby Lee -usa Today Sports)
“Fast, light, cheap and Jones’ retain control as they like it,” wrote an unhappy fan. “This team doesn’t want to win. It’s about attention. It’s about ego. Cowboys fans are exhausted with this clown show.”
Schottenheimer joined McCarthy’s cowboys staff in 2022 as a coaching analyst before replacing Moore as an offensive coordinator in 2023. His first year in the position was also Prescott’s best season as the team went on to NFC East before floating in the Wild Card Round to Green Bay Packers. The team had the fifth ranked violation that season.
Schottenheimer, the son of the decorated NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer, has almost three decades worth coaching under his belt that spends time with jets, rams and seahawks before coming to cowboys. He served in an offensive coordinator role for each of these teams.
