Cowboys keep things in the family

By David Mullen

If the Dallas Cowboys are worth more than $10 billion, as Forbes magazine reports, why does GM/owner Jerry Jones run the team like a small family business? 

After being required to remain on the Cowboys payroll until his contract ran out on January 14, head coach Mike McCarthy was let go by Jones after five seasons. McCarthy led the Cowboys to three consecutive 12-5 regular seasons, sandwiched in between two 10-loss years and no extended playoff runs. 

“Mike’s one of the best coaches that I think there is,” Jones said. He was good enough that other teams were interested in his services. McCarthy was not allowed by Jones to interview for the vacant head coaching job with the Chicago Bears before Jones let him go. 

Chicago chose 38-year-old Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who quickly named defensive guru Dennis Allen as the Bears new DC. Highly respected former player and head coach Mike Vrabel was hired by the New England Patriots. The Las Vegas Raiders went with experience, hiring former Super Bowl Champion coach Pete Carroll.

While other teams were filling coaching vacancies with smart hires or proven winners, the 82-year-old Jones delayed the process like he had a plan. Jones clearly had no plan.

Jones fiddled while Frisco burned.

At a press conference on January 27 best described as awkward, Jones and son, Cowboys COO and EVP of Player Personnel Stephen Jones, introduced the 10th head coach of the Cowboys and the ninth during Jones’ reign, Dallas offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

“It just felt right,” Jones said, about his decision to hire a football legacy who has never been a head coach at any level. 

Schottenheimer is the son of the late NFL coach Marty, who won more than 200 regular and post season games during a 21-season career. With the Cowboys, family and bloodlines matter.  

Dallas reportedly interviewed four candidates before nabbing Schottenheimer from their own sideline. No other team with a head coaching vacancy approached the Cowboys to interview the 51-year-old Schottenheimer.

In some ways, Schottenheimer was the Cowboys offensive coordinator six days a week. 

McCarthy had called the offensive plays on game day for the past two seasons. Schottenheimer, like McCarthy, is also expected to call the plays during the game. Why hire a separate play caller when you can save money with a two-for-one coach? 

There was speculation that former Cowboys star and current Colorado University head coach Deion Sanders was going to be considered for the vacant position. That appears to have been a ruse. Even Jones’ attempt to make headlines during the AFC and NFC Championship weekend fell flat. The Schottenheimer hiring caused barely a whimper with the national media, while two of the Cowboys’ three division rivals — the eventual NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles and the upstart Washington Commanders — played for a spot in Super Bowl LIX.

This is really not about whether Schottenheimer will be a good head coach. He has the pedigree but is unproven. No one truly knows if he will succeed. But the unbridled mess orchestrated by Jones during the month of January is indicative of how far the Cowboys have fallen from relevance. 

On his YouTube Channel show, Cowboys Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin seem to speak for frustrated Dallas fans everywhere.

“Here’s my issue: We lost an opportunity here,” Irvin said. “I don’t know what will happen with Coach Schottenheimer and the Dallas Cowboys, but Jerry’s a shrewd, shrewd businessman, and this opportunity, I’m shocked he did not see.

“We have two NFC East teams in the NFC Championship game being played [January 26]. All eyes on them,” Irvin said. “The Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders, our enemies on all fronts, and they’re in a position that we haven’t held in 30 f***ing years. The longest drought by any NFC East team, period.” The Cowboys last played in the NFC Championship game during the 1995-96 season and went on to win their last Super Bowl.

According to overthecap.com and reported by CBS Sports, under Jones the Cowboys have spent the least amount of money on free agents, $20.47 million, since the conclusion of last season’s Super Bowl. 

Jones tried to solve an obvious weakness at running back with low-cost solutions. And in signing Schottenheimer, Jones is paying one of the lowest salaries among current NFL coaches.

“I’d like to thank Jerry, Miss Gene [Jerry’s wife Gene], Stephen, [daughter] Charlotte, Jerry Jr., the entire Jones family over the past three years that I’ve been here,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s been really incredible to get to know them. But I would say really over the past four or five days as we spent a lot of hours together that I really realized why this organization, but most importantly, this family is so special.

“To the players, you are the key to this program,” Schottenheimer said, describing the team with a term usually used in college football. “I believe in the ‘family first’ mantra.” Cue the marching band.

“Thank you guys for the opportunity from a football family — the Schottenheimers — to the Jones,” Schottenheimer said. “Thank you guys for this incredible opportunity and I look forward to working so closely with the entire family in continuing the legacy and tradition of this football team and the special brand that it has.”

The Dallas Cowboys are a family team, and Brian Schottenheimer appears to be a family man. The Cowboys are clearly a brand being run by a patriarch who is reluctant to change. It’s the family business.