Jerry Jones stated that he decided to hire Brian Schottenheimer as the Dallas Cowboys’ new coach and sign quarterback Dak Prescott to a $240 million, four-year contract because the team is focused on winning now and aiming to compete for Super Bowls.
Speaking at the NFL Honors event on Thursday night, Jones expressed confidence that Schottenheimer was the right choice to lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl victory. Schottenheimer, 51, is the son of the late Marty Schottenheimer, who had a successful NFL coaching career. Last month, Schottenheimer was promoted from offensive coordinator to become the 10th coach in the franchise’s history.
This promotion came less than two weeks after the Cowboys parted ways with Mike McCarthy, whose contract expired following a 7-10 season. McCarthy had brought Schottenheimer in as a consultant in 2022.
Jones explained that Schottenheimer’s football background played a key role in the decision, as Marty Schottenheimer had a career record of 200-126-1 over 21 seasons as an NFL coach.
“We called it osmosis, sitting around the breakfast table,” Jones said. “He made a young lifetime out of asking his father to help him, being around organizations so he could absorb as much football as possible. He’s no accident. He’s had a lot of experience to be a first-time head coach. I thought we could bet on that.”
Schottenheimer was well-liked in the Cowboys’ locker room. Jones defended the decision to promote him, rejecting the idea that it was a safe move by promoting a coach already on staff.
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Schottenheimer is the ninth coach Jones has hired since buying the team in 1989. He becomes the seventh coach since the Cowboys last reached the NFC Championship game during the 1995 season, which led to their fifth Super Bowl title. This is the longest streak in the NFC without reaching the conference title game.
Under McCarthy, the Cowboys made the playoffs three years in a row with 12-5 records, but they only won one of those postseason games.
Jones told the AP, “The decisions I’m making are not based on rebuilding. They’re based on competing. And competing now. The decisions I made last year were based on competing now. Now they didn’t exactly work out. But I think I paid Dak more than anybody’s ever been paid in the NFL. That’s now. That’s not the future. We’re excited about our team’s ability to compete right now.”
