Brian Schottenheimer had an ‘agreement’ to remain with Cowboys if not hired as HC

Before agreeing to become the 10th head coach in Dallas Cowboys history, Brian Schottenheimer planned to remain with the club regardless of how the interview process went.

Schottenheimer, who had been the offensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy for two years but didn’t call plays, revealed on an episode of The Twins Take Podcast that he had an “agreement” with Jerry and Stephen Jones to remain with the club if he didn’t get the head coaching gig.

“So, what we did is while they were going through the process — cause there’s a process, right? I wasn’t sure, and there was a number of other teams — saying this very humbly — that were courting me and trying to say, “Hey, we want you to come be our coordinator.” And so, you know, after just talking it over with Stephen and Jerry, like, okay, while we figure this out and you guys go through the interview process, which there’s a thorough interview process you have to go through. We had made an agreement that I would stay here no matter what. And I didn’t want to leave… I really wanted to be the head coach and put our fingerprint, our blueprint on it. And that’s what God had planned.”

Before hiring Schottenheimer for the big chair, the Cowboys also interviewed Leslie Frazier, Robert Saleh and Kellen Moore. Had either of the former two been hired, Schotty staying on as the OC could have been a natural pairing. It would have been interesting to see if Moore would have been fine with the coordinator staying on board.

The revelation that the Cowboys planned to retain Schotty could explain the truncated interview list, which didn’t include some of the more offense-savvy options available that season – e.g., Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, etc. Dallas has in the past insisted on keeping certain coordinators, so it wouldn’t be off-brand for the club to enter the interview process seeking to retain Schottenheimer.

In the end, the process is moot if Schottenheimer finds playoff success in Year 2 and beyond. He’s proven he can guide a Dak Prescott-led offense that moves the chains and can find explosives. After the one-year experiment with DC Matt Eberflus failed, Schotty plucked Christian Parker, who leads a revamped unit. If the D improves and the offense remains a top-tier unit, the Cowboys will be back in the postseason tournament after a two-year hiatus.