With Dak Prescott’s recommendation for Brian Schottenheimer fulfilled, the two are now in (or out) this thing together
Early in the second week of the Dallas Cowboys’ search for a head coach to replace Mike McCarthy, quarterback Dak Prescott’s voice was heard.
While already in the building as he continues his recovery from a torn hamstring he suffered in November, Prescott gave his opinion on a head coach possibility that had been tossed around, but hadn’t been given a serious look to that point: offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
Prescott stood on the table for his guy. As success from the 2023 season was reflected on – specifically as it pertains to the final 12 games that ascended Prescott to a runner-up finish for the league MVP – a lot of indicators of Schottenheimer’s influence stood out.
That support was shared by fellow offensive personnel, and intrigue in the Cowboys’ only realistic in-house option began to grow.
Schottenheimer had his official interview with the team on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and while many in the building saw this as more of an opportunity to gauge if he could be retained as offensive coordinator, the voices on the other side of the table gave him a legitimate shot with Prescott’s backing in mind.
The first interview lasted approximately four hours before Jerry Jones asked him back for a second day of discussions on Wednesday, Jan. 22. After another four hours, the conversations with Schottenheimer began to turn from him pitching his vision to the front office to the front office building a reality around what it would look like if they made him the head coach.
By Thursday, Jan. 23, they were already discussing a potential staff.
While the timing of the late night hire on Friday, Jan. 24, it took a full vision and idea of what everything around Schottenheimer would look like before pulling the trigger. While the criticism around the Cowboys’ coaching search not being thorough enough with additional outside candidates is more than fair, they did fulfill their due diligence on the thoroughness of Schottenheimer.
And on Monday, Jan. 27, he was officially introduced during a press conference at the Star.
“It might be couched as a less than glamorous hire,” Jones said on Monday at the press conference. “What I would say to you is I got here taking shots. Good things have happened. There’s something to be had where not many people go.”
Jones knows exactly about the criticism around his lack of risk-taking. He fought that battle more than any on Monday.
“I’ve read where I don’t have a penchant for risk-taking,” he said. “If you really knew my scoresheet, you would see that I’ve taken more risks in my last five years than my whole life put together.”
“This is as big a risk as you can take.“
How that pays off remains to be seen, as the first-time head coach will have arguably one of the most in-focus microscopes of any coach that has stepped into the role in the franchise’s history, simply because of his lack of a head coaching market and because of the Super Bowl-winning head coach the team let walk out the door less than two weeks earlier.
But if anything is for certain now, it is that the future of Dak Prescott in Dallas has been pushed to the middle of the table. When he spoke, the Cowboys listened. For a lack of a better term, the Cowboys are showing that they are “all-in” on maximizing what they have left with the man they already gave the richest average annual value contract in league history to less than five months ago. Somehow, that investment saw more get pushed in on Friday.
First and foremost, Schottenheimer emphasized on multiple occasions that he is a culture builder. Speaking to the handful of players in attendance supporting his hiring, he put out an expectation of what he expects from his 53-man roster.
“The type of people we are looking for are modeled by a lot of the men in the back.,” Schottenheimer said at the press conference. “We’re looking for world-class competitors, guys that want to compete every day to be the best versions of themselves. We are looking for people with relentless work ethic. I was taught by my father at a young age that you can outwork people in this business.”
Schottenheimer came with a strong Prescott recommendation. And with a four-year contract for his new head coach that directly lines up with his own deal that expires at the end of the 2028 season, their futures now hinge on each other’s success.
Now on his third head coach as the starting quarterback, Prescott’s last chance at finally making a postseason run will have to come with the guy he vouched for now in his ear calling plays.
And if it doesn’t, it will be the end of yet another era that comes up empty in Dallas.
This story was originally published January 25, 2025 at 8:33 AM.
