In just a few hours, Brian Schottenheimer will be officially introduced as the 10th head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
He has been an assistant coach for 28 years. One year, 2015, in college at Georgia with the rest in the NFL.
Including that solo year with the Bulldogs, 15 of those years were spent as an offensive coordinator with the Jets, Rams, Seahawks, and the Cowboys.
He’s never been a head coach, at any level, and I’m not even sure he’s been interviewed for a head coaching job by any NFL team prior to last week.
He certainly wasn’t on anyone’s radar for any of the openings in the league since the season ended earlier this month. Except one, of course.
In fact, what appears to be highest on his resume as far as positives, at least at The Star in Frisco, is his father was Marty Schottenheimer.
That and the fact that Dak Prescott likes the younger Schottenheimer and is “comfortable” with him.
I’m going to be 61 soon. I’ve been a Cowboys fan since 1968 – that’s nearly 57 years, in case you were wondering.
I had one instant reaction Friday night when the news broke of the hiring.
To paraphrase Det. Roger Murtaugh: I’m getting too old for this Schott.
Shades Of Dave Campo
My immediate thought after that initial wave of denial, one echoed by many others on social media as the news spread, was that this was Dave Campo 2.0.
In 2000, Campo replaced Chan Gailey, who went 8-8 in 1999 and lost both playoff games he led Dallas to. Campo had been the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator since 1995.
No one was clamoring to hire him as their head coach when Jerry Jones named him the franchise’s fifth head coach.
After three straight 5–11 seasons, Campo was fired. He never held a head coaching position again at any level.
Campo’s defense helped win the Cowboys’ last Super Bowl in his first year as the defensive coordinator.
But, like then head coach Barry Switzer, all of the credit for that win belonged to Jimmy Johnson and his defensive coordinators, Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis.
Those men had built the dynasty. Switzer and Campo in 1995 just got the final benefit of their predecessors’ labors. Campo’s record after that season proves that.
Can Schottenheimer Succeed?
Schottenheimer has been the offensive coordinator in Dallas for the last two years. And never called a single play.
The man he replaced, Mike McCarthy, did not trust him to call a game.
But Jones expects us to trust that he can game plan. And trust that he can make in-game adjustments, or even halftime adjustments?
That’s a hard ask given a full examination of Schottenheimer’s resume.
Jones would have us believe that for nearly three decades, no other organization has seen enough potential in Schottenheimer to even interview him for the top job?
Only Jones – or his son Stephen, if some reports are to be believed that the younger Jones pushed for this hire – saw the diamond in the rough?
That’s another hard ask. Especially given the entire Jones family’s miserable performance running this franchise for the last quarter-century.
We’ll give Schottenheimer the benefit of the doubt. For now, at the very least.
What other choice do we have?
Until the elder Jones shuffles off this mortal coil, and assuming that inheritance taxes might force the family to sell the team, we’re along for the ride.
Both Joneses will trot out their new puppet head coach today with broad, smiling faces. They’ll tell you he’s the best candidate out there.
One of them might even say they are “all-in.” God help us.
They won’t mention that they never interviewed the top candidates, nor gave serious consideration to those they did interview.
I won’t buy it. And judging by the comments you all left over the weekend here, I’m betting many of you won’t either.
At best, we’ll pray that Jones lucked out and Schottenheimer surprises us all.
And brace ourselves for the train wreck that we’re all certain is sure to come later this year.
An Early Prediction
The most troubling thing from this fiasco was the statement that Prescott was “comfortable” with the new head coach and that fact was a big driver for the hire.
An overpaid quarterback that has woefully under-delivered in the playoffs has no right to be allowed to feel comfortable.
If anything, he should be feeling uncomfortable. As in, “get it done or get out, and we’ll bring in someone who can,” uncomfortable.
This does not fill me with optimism for the 2025 season. Nor does the exodus of good coaches, like John Fassel and Al Harris.
Don’t even get me started on how many free agents the Cowboys are almost certain to lose.
Then there’s an upcoming draft that Dallas is almost certain to screw up for the third-straight year.
As things stand this morning, with the coaching changes and roster upheaval, I have a bad feeling that Dave Campo will no longer be considered the worst head coach in team history.
For now, I’m predicting a 4-13 record by the time the 2025 season comes to an end. Change my mind.
As Scooter Magruder asked over on X after the news broke: Is there a transfer portal for NFL fans?
We all just might need one of those. At least until the curse of the Jones family is lifted from this franchise.