Cowboys hire Brian Schottenheimer as new offensive coordinator
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Wednesday that coach Mike McCarthy would call plays
Brian Schottenheimer will be the new offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys.
The team announced Schottenheimer’s hire on Saturday. He will serve as the team’s OC though he will not be calling plays. Team owner Jerry Jones said earlier this week that head coach Mike McCarthy would be the play-caller in the wake of Kellen Moore’s departure. The Cowboys and Moore parted ways a week ago and the Los Angeles Chargers quickly hired Moore to replace Joe Lombardi as their offensive coordinator.
“I am very happy to have Brian take on this key role with our team,” McCarthy said in a statement. “He has been an important part of our staff already and has a great grasp of where we are and where we want to go.”
Dallas was fourth in scoring in 2022 at 27.5 points per game. The Cowboys averaged 5.4 yards per play, though Dak Prescott threw 15 interceptions in just 12 games. Prescott was phenomenal in the team’s wild-card win over the Buccaneers before throwing two interceptions in the team’s divisional loss to the 49ers.
Schottenheimer served as a consultant for the Cowboys during the 2021 season. He last officially coached in the NFL in 2021 when he served as the passing game coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the team’s tumultuous Urban Meyer season.
Before spending a season with the Jaguars, Schottenheimer was the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator for three seasons. Seattle went 12-4 in 2020, Schottenheimer's third and final there, and scored over 28 points per game, but the offense struggled over the final weeks of the season. After scoring 31 points or more in seven of the team’s first eight games, Seattle failed to score more than 26 points in all but one of its final six games of the season. The Seahawks then lost 30-20 to the Rams in a wild-card playoff game.
Schottenheimer was fired days after the playoff loss as the team cited “philosophical differences.”
Schottenheimer is the son of former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer. McCarthy’s first NFL job came with Marty Schottenheimer’s Kansas City Chiefs in 1993 when he worked for two seasons as a quality control coach before becoming the team’s quarterbacks coach for four seasons.
