Mike McCarthy will not return as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, according to owner Jerry Jones, who made the announcement on Monday. The Cowboys have not won a Super Bowl in nearly 30 years, and Jones stated that McCarthy and the organization mutually agreed to part ways. The search for the team’s next head coach begins immediately.
Jones expressed his respect for McCarthy, praising him for leading the team through challenging times. McCarthy’s contract ended on January 8 following a 7-10 season. Before that, he led the Cowboys to three consecutive 12-5 seasons but was unable to take the team past the divisional round of the NFC playoffs, a dry spell that has lasted since the Cowboys’ last Super Bowl victory at the end of the 1995 season.
Deion Sanders, the head coach at the University of Colorado and former player for the last Cowboys team to win a Super Bowl, has a strong relationship with Jones. Sanders could be a candidate for the head coach position. The two have discussed the job, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous. While no formal interview has been scheduled, the team is still gathering possible candidates.
The Cowboys had an exclusive window to negotiate with McCarthy through Tuesday, but both parties decided to part ways before that deadline.
McCarthy, 61, previously coached the Green Bay Packers for 13 seasons, where he had a 125-77-2 record. He won a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2011, 14 years ago at AT&T Stadium, the Cowboys’ home. McCarthy also led Green Bay to three NFC championship games.
Jones hired McCarthy in 2020 after Jason Garrett’s tenure ended, as Garrett never reached the NFC championship game in his 10 years as head coach. McCarthy’s record with the Cowboys stands at 50-38, including a 1-3 playoff record.
The 2022 season saw the Cowboys win the NFC East and achieve 16 consecutive home victories. However, their season ended in disappointment after a 48-32 wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers, where they trailed by 32 points in the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys also struggled with injuries, losing key players like quarterback Dak Prescott, receiver CeeDee Lamb, guard Zack Martin, cornerback Trevon Diggs, and defender DeMarcus Lawrence during the season.
McCarthy’s firing comes after a period of instability for the Cowboys. Jason Garrett, the franchise’s second-longest-serving coach, led the team for 10 years without reaching the NFC championship game. The longest-tenured coach in Cowboys history was Hall of Famer Tom Landry, who coached for the first 29 seasons. Jones fired Landry after purchasing the team before the 1989 season.
McCarthy has 174 career regular-season wins, ranking among the top 12 NFL coaches for most wins. The only active coaches with more wins than McCarthy are Andy Reid with 302 and Mike Tomlin with 183.
Jones’ next hire will be his ninth head coach. His first coach was Jimmy Johnson, whom he brought in from the University of Miami. Johnson led the Cowboys to back-to-back Super Bowl victories in the 1992-93 seasons, but the two had a bitter split after that.
Barry Switzer took over and won a Super Bowl in his second season but was fired after two years following a 6-10 record. Bill Parcells, another Hall of Famer, coached the Cowboys from 2003-06, leading them to the playoffs twice but losing in the wild-card round both times.
