Cowboys Exclusive as Mike Zimmer Speaks Out

FRISCO - Just a few days ago, Mike Zimmer, the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator, was saying "all options are open" in regard to his coaching future.

But now, in the wake of the Cowboys having made the decision to move on from Mike McCarthy and to replace him with top offensive assistant Brian Schottenheimer?

In an exclusive interview with CowboysCountry.com, Zimmer is explaining why he closing his door here at The Star, what he was hoping for, and what comes next.

We asked Zimmer if he was hoping that he would be the guy chosen by owners Jerry and Stephen Jones to be the new head coach.

"The truth,'' Zimmer said with a laugh, "is that I've wanted to be the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for 25 years.''

The early conversation for head coach around here included some expected names like Robert Saleh and Kellen Moore and then some wild card coaches like Jason Witten and Deion Sanders being mentioned. 

Schottenheimer got two interviews on the way to winning the job.

A team source tells us that Zimmer was an early consideration for the job - a fact Zimmer is frankly unable to confirm.

"All I know,'' said the 68-year-old coach self-effacingly, "is that (NFL teams) aren't exactly beating down my door.''

There is an argument to be made for Zimmer over first-time head coach Schottenheimer, just based on the numbers. In Zimmer's eight years as a head coach in Minnesota, his defense was top-10 in third-down conversion rate, yards allowed, sacks recorded and points allowed.

In his one year back in Dallas - he was previously an assistant coach here starting with him winning a Super Bowl ring in 1995 - Zimmer didn't quite put up those sort of numbers.

But, he told us, "I'm proud of what we did with Micah Parsons and all the guys, including finishing third in the NFL in sacks. We did some good things. We got better. ...''

Zimmer confirmed to us that he was not interested in returning as an assistant under Schottenheimer (ex-Bears head coach and Dallas staffer Matt Eberflus is in line for that job) while adding that there is no personal conflict there.

Any regrets? Zimmer has always coached with a rough and no-nonsense edge. Now he wonders if as he slid into this job he acquiesced too much to some of the other staffers in order to avoid conflict. But that's about it.

Zimmer is now relaxing at his 160-acre ranch in Kentucky, in the company of fiancée Katarina Miketin, unwinding from the NFL grind and planning to dive into retirement.

"I didn't enjoy going 7-10, but I enjoyed my time there,'' Zimmer said. "I woke up wanting to go to work every day. Oh, and over the course of the season, I lost 20 pounds!''