Here we go again.
It’s late January, Conference Championship Sunday is upon us, four amazing teams are left in the playoffs. And yet, there’s only one promise that remains:
America won’t stop talking about the Dallas Cowboys.
That’s right, America’s Team (we still call them that?) sent waves through the NFL community when Jerry Jones told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he is hiring longtime assistant coach Brian
Schottenheimer to be the next head coach of the Cowboys.
Schottenheimer, 51, spent the last two years on Dallas’ staff as the offensive coordinator, but play-calling duties belonged to Mike McCarthy -- the man Schottenheimer is replacing, after the two sides couldn’t agree on a renewal for his expired contract.
A driving reason for McCarthy’s departure, from what multiple sources told ESPN’s Todd Archer, was a disagreement on the length of a possible extension. OK. It’s feasible, though, to assume that an issue like that would’ve been worked out if McCarthy didn’t own a 1-3 record in the playoffs.
But here’s where things get fishy.
McCarthy, while much maligned for his failed success in the postseason, owns 174 wins as an NFL head coach. Schottenheimer has zero. Nor was he a coveted candidate for a head coaching job outside of Dallas. Nor has he been a hot name in the hiring cycle since leading Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets to two consecutive AFC Championship games in 2010 and 2011 as the offensive coordinator and play-caller.
Common knowledge tells us this: the Cowboys would not have parted with McCarthy if they felt he had done a sufficient enough job relative to expectations. In Dallas, the expectation is, and always has been, winning a Super Bowl, at least to the millions of die-hard fans around the world who have been starved of that very thing for 29 years.
So surely, the man you bring in to replace the guy who couldn’t get it done should have the cachet that would make winning a Super Bowl feel like a real possibility.
Only, that’s exactly what didn’t happen.
Not only did the Cowboys not hire an inspiring candidate, they didn’t even interview one. Please, no offense to Robert Salah, Leslie Fraizer and Kellen Moore -- the other three candidates who were interviewed and have shown to be fantastic assistants -- but Jerry Jones wasn’t exactly doing himself favors with those options.
Unless (oh boy), all he wanted was to bring in a guy who is clearly of a lesser status and attention bee than he is. After all, that’s all Jones has had for the past 18 years, since Bill Parcells didn’t work out.
Also, it’s especially concerning that the top head coaching candidates of this cycle weren’t interested in coming to Dallas. Sure, Jones and his team did prolong the uncertainty surrounding the availability of the position by waiting until Jan. 13, the day before McCarthy’s contract officially expired, to open a vacancy.
By that point, Mike Vrabel had already been hired by the Patriots; Ben Johnson was four interviews deep; Aaron Glenn was five interviews deep; and (ha) it was probably abundantly clear that Mike Tomlin was staying in Pittsburgh.
To their pity, the Cowboys did speak with Pete Carroll about the job. And didn’t they also speak with— (Oh boy. I’ve run myself into it) —Deion Sanders? Whatever happened to that fever dream?
This was supposed to be the hire that got people excited about the Cowboys. Everyone knows the cachet of Deion Sanders, but there has also been a recent track record in the NFL of former players returning to coach a team they played for. And a successful one, at that.
Dan Campbell returned in 2021 to coach the Lions after playing tight end for Detroit from 2006 to 2008. That’s worked out OK.
Demeco Ryans is one of the best players in Texans’ history, and he’s taken them to a playoff win in each of his first two seasons.
Jim Harbaugh quarterbacked the Chargers 24 years ago before becoming their coach this year, plussing up their win total by six.
And the aforementioned Vrabel and Glenn each wound up hired by their former teams, the Patriots and Jets. That’s not a coincidence, people.
Sanders could have become the eighth player in NFL history to coach the team he won a Super Bowl with. (Vrabel just became the seventh.) Sanders knows the Cowboys organization well, has dealt with the drama and won in spite of it, has an immense amount of respect from Jerry Jones. And, he’s been successful everywhere he’s been. No, he hasn’t gotten close to a national championship at Colorado, but he did dramatically turn around a team that hardly had a recollection of winning and made them competitive.
I’m not saying this would have worked, but I am saying that Sanders seemed to be a good fit for what the Cowboys are in need of most: respect.
Let’s face it, despite the 49 regular season wins McCarthy gave them, this team is a laughing stock. Literally. Just ask Stephen A. Smith. Sanders would have demanded respect in that building. He wouldn’t have kissed the feet of Jerry Jones or let his antics overshadow the team.
For all the image he brings as “Prime Time Deion Sanders,” Deion is a no-nonsense coach. Players want to play for him, and he would have pressured Jerry Jones to stop being so gun-shy in free agency and bring the best players in the world to Dallas, like what could have been with Derrick Henry.
That’s what Schottenheimer is missing. The charisma, the demand of the building. Sure, he’s a respected coach, and Dak Prescott vouched for him. But he looks all too familiar in the line of yes-man Cowboys coaches. It’s more of the same. It’s boring. It’s uninspiring. It’s the same thing Jones has done for the better part of 29 years, and we all know how that has gone.
And yet, Schottenheimer is now expected to outdo the success of McCarthy’s tenure, a four year period that saw a 12-5 record three straight years and one playoff win. It’s hard to imagine with the holes on the roster and an indifferent general manager that Schottenheimer will even get that far.
To his credit, Schottenheimer, though consigned to oblivion, does have roots of NFL lore.
His father, Marty Schottenheimer, spent 21 years as a head coach for four different teams and took the Browns and Chiefs to three AFC Championship games. His 200 wins are seventh most in NFL history, and he is considered as an all-time great.
As mentioned up top, Adam Schefter was the one to break the news of the hiring by way of a direct phone call from Jones. According to Schefter, Jones had obvious excitement in his
voice as he told the tale of his hire. That was probably because he knows he’s still the big man on campus. Either that or Jones, 82, actually thought he hired Marty.
On second thought, I guess Marty’s son is a good fit for the Cowboys after all. Because guess what: despite the perennial winning in the regular season, Marty was known, infamously, for a lack of postseason success!
He was 5-13 in the playoffs, and his three best teams -- the ‘06 Chargers (14-2), ‘97 Chiefs (13-3) and ‘95 Chiefs (13-3) -- all lost their first playoff game.
This is perfect.
Gavin Patrick is a journalism student at Tarleton State University where he serves as the sports writer of the J-TAC student newspaper and the Texan News Services. You can read more of his work at www.texannews.net.