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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has his next head coach, and the longtime owner stayed in-house for the new hiring.
Friday evening, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that Brian Schottenheimer, currently the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys, was being elevated to the head coaching position. He replaces Mike McCarthy to lead Dallas following a disappointing 2024 season.
“Brian Schottenheimer is known as a career assistant,” Jones said via Schefter. “He ain’t Brian no more. He is now known as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”
Brian is the son of the late Marty Schottenheimer, a former longtime head coach in the NFL ranks. The younger Schottenheimer has NFL roots but has never had his chance as a head coach prior to Friday’s announcement.
Schottenheimer served as the backup to Danny Wuerffel at Florida during the 1990s and would go on to coach at various stops throughout the NFL and collegiate levels. His coaching career even took him to Georgia where he would serve as the offensive coordinator for one season in 2015.
On a broader level, the hiring is a confusing one, to say the least. Schottenheimer did not appear to be high on any other team’s radar for a head coaching job, and there were seemingly other interesting options available for the Dallas Cowboys.
However, Jerry Jones clearly marches to the beat of his own drum, and it will be Schottenheimer leading the franchise into the 2025 season. We’ll see how that works out for the franchise.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.