Pros & cons of Cowboys hiring Brian Schottenheimer as head coach
Schottenheimer, who has been the team’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons, has never been an NFL head coach. For a fan base that fantasized about flashy names like Deion Sanders, Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel, and others, the hire of Schottenheimer has been met with a lot of anger by Cowboys fans over the weekend.
While the hire has been met with torches and pitchforks, there hasn’t been nearly as much discussion about what Schottenheimer actually brings to the table.
So with that in mind, here are the arguments for and against Jerry Jones’ decision to hire Brian Schottenheimer as the next Cowboys head coach:
FOR...
If you wanted a culture builder and a CEO, you've made an incredibly strong choice. Schottenheimer impressed a number of people with the Cowboys with the way that he helped build bridges and understanding between players and McCarthy in 2023 when the offensive changes were made.
Much like with Jason Garrett, I don't believe the Cowboys will ever go into a game unprepared. The players will be focused and motivated. That's the universal feedback I've gotten from people outside of Dallas that I’ve reached out to over the last week.
The details will likely be better for the Cowboys. Players publicly and privately across the league have given Schottenheimer positive grades for his attention to detail. Russell Wilson is the biggest public supporter of Schottenheimer's attention to detail, often comparing the difference between Schottenheimer and the coordinator he replaced, Darrell Bevell. The details include pre-snap penalties. The Jets, Rams, Seahawks, and Cowboys all saw declining trends of pre-snap penalties with Schottenheimer on staff.
Is Schottenheimer's resume as a play-caller as bad as it seems on the surface? Maybe not. When Schottenheimer was with the Jets, they finished 18th, 25th, 9th, 17th, 13th, and 13th in points. But over the last 25 seasons, Schottenheimer owns four of the six best finishes in points for the Jets. The Jets have also finished worse than Schottenheimer's worst season (25th in 2007) in 9 of the 13 seasons since he left.
Of the five quarterbacks who have started at least 20 games with Schottenheimer as their offensive coordinator, four of them had the best numbers of their careers with him.
While Schottenheimer was not the offensive coordinator in Jacksonville in 2021, he took over play-calling for the final three games of Trevor Lawrence's rookie season. All of Lawrence's passing statistics numbers went up for the final three games. Jacksonville averaged 6 points more per game, 20 more yards per game, and 0.7 yards more per play with Schottenheimer.
AGAINST...
Whether Schottenheimer will be a good or bad coach is irrelevant, because the Cowboys' hiring process was poor. Dak Prescott is a good quarterback who became an MVP candidate, but they picked him at the back end of the fourth round after three other targets got snatched up. That is not a credit to the process. Similarly, Schottenheimer's success is likely not a credit to the Cowboys’ process, but something more unforeseen.
This was once more an incredibly narrow search, which calls into question how the Cowboys can have any certainty about his qualifications as the best possible candidate. Outside of Rooney Rule candidates, which have the public appearance of the Cowboys merely maintaining compliance with the league, the last three Cowboys head coaching searches have featured just one face-to-face interview with a candidate who wasn't already working for the team.
We can cherry-pick statistics all day long, but the fact of the matter is that as a play-caller, Schottenheimer's offenses on average have finished 17th in scoring and 21st in yards. He's finished in the bottom 10 of the league in yards more times than he's finished in the top half of the league.
No other team has shown interest in Schottenheimer that reflects the admiration the Cowboys have for him. That does not mean the Cowboys should follow league trends rather than lead, but it is indicative that their perspective is on its own island, and merits consideration as to whether or not they’re doing things the right way. The last time Brian Schottenheimer was hired in the NFL by someone who he hadn't previously worked with was 2012. Pete Carroll is the only NFL head coach to hire Schottenheimer who currently has an NFL job in any capacity.
The comfort and endorsement of the players should have dissuaded the Cowboys from hiring a candidate, not encouraged them. If this core wants comfort and carryover, that inherently sets up the same culture and parameters that have led to this team underperforming. Continuity shouldn’t be a priority for core concepts that have consistently failed.
IN THE END…
Brian Schottenheimer isn’t an unqualified head coach. He has plenty of experience and qualities that are commonly found in successful head coaches. That doesn’t guarantee success, and it doesn’t validate the Cowboys’ hiring process, which appears to be incredibly narrow and flawed.
Only time will tell if these factors add up to a successful hire for the Cowboys.
