Cowboys hire Brian Schottenheimer as next head coach

The Cowboys have a new head coach. 

Dallas is hiring Brian Schottenheimer to take over on the sidelines, the team announced Friday night. 

The Dallas Morning News reported that the contract will be for four years. 

“Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant,” Jones told ESPN. “He ain’t Brian no more. He is now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”  

Schottenheimer was the team’s offensive coordinator for the last two seasons under Mike McCarthy, who was dismissed after the season. 

It will be the 51-year-old’s first head coaching job. 

Schottenheimer previously served as the offensive coordinator with the Jets (2006-11), the Rams (2012-14) and the Seahawks (2018-20). 

His dad, Marty, won 200 games as an NFL head coach and is in the Chiefs Hall of Fame. 

Schottenheimer takes over after McCarthy and the Cowboys couldn’t agree to terms on a long-term extension at season’s end. 

McCarthy’s Cowboys held a 49-35 record over his five seasons as head coach, but they only won one postseason game under his stewardship. 

Even with the experienced Schottenheimer leading the offense, McCarthy still was in charge of calling plays over the last two years. 

The Cowboys led the league in scoring in 2023 (29.9 points per game) thanks to a career year from quarterback Dak Prescott, but took a step back to the middle of the pack this season thanks in large part to Prescott needing surgery in November for a partially torn hamstring. 

Dallas had also interviewed ex-Jets head coach Robert Saleh, Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and Seahawks assistant Leslie Frazier for their opening. 

Shortly after the Schottenheimer news broke, Saleh was officially named the next defensive coordinator of the 49ers, a job he held from 2017-20. 

Schottenheimer’s time in New York reached its apex during the 2009 and 2010 seasons when the Jets reached consecutive AFC Championship Games. 

Gang Green ranked in the top five in rushing in both seasons — first in ’09 — but sat in the bottom third of the league in passing in what were Mark Sanchez’s first two years under center. 

While it’s still unclear how Schottenheimer’s staff with the Cowboys will look, ESPN reported ex-Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is a “prime candidate” for the defensive coordinator job. 

Schottenheimer’s Dallas promotion leaves the Saints as the only team with a head coaching vacancy left to fill.