Stephen Jones discusses Cowboys' controversial hiring of HC Brian Schottenheimer

Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones and CEO Stephen Jones continue to receive criticism from fans and analysts alike for not re-signing head coach Mike McCarthy and for essentially promoting Brian Schottenheimer for the role after Schottenheimer spent the last two seasons as Dallas' offensive coordinator. 

Stephen Jones recently spoke with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated about the Cowboys' controversial offseason activities. 

"Anyone we would’ve picked, there would be question marks," Jones insisted. "We weren’t getting [Bill] Belichick, he was already to North Carolina. He’s a six-time Super Bowl winner. But pretty much after that, people are going to have criticism for anyone you pick. And we understood that. That’s to be expected." 

McCarthy is a one-time Super Bowl champion head coach who guided Dallas to 12-5 records each season from 2021-23 and seemingly would've stayed with the Cowboys, along with Schottenheimer, had the Jones family met McCarthy's contract requests before he became an available free agent. Meanwhile, Schottenheimer never served as a head coach at any significant level before he received the Dallas gig. 

"Anytime you’re gonna go down the road with a first-time head coach, you’ll always have the question marks," Stephen Jones continued. "...I would say this — Schotty has a lot more experience than some of these younger, quote-unquote wizards. He’s spent his whole life around coaching, with his father (legendary coach Marty Schottenheimer), then had 25 years of NFL experience. So we feel great. The reality is there are gonna be question marks until we change the narrative."

McCarthy's Dallas teams went 1-3 in postseason play before he had to deal with a significant injury crisis this past fall that played a part in the club finishing the 2024 campaign with a 7-10 record. While Stephen Jones repeated a point previously made by quarterback Dak Prescott and noted that "some continuity needed to be considered" regarding Dallas' coaching situation, Jones also admitted that "the fact that we didn’t have success in the postseason" from 2021-23 impacted why Dallas ultimately parted ways with McCarthy. 

"We felt like there’ll be change and freshness that will happen," Stephen Jones added. "That’s in no way critical of Mike — we just wanted the combination of change and freshness, but also wanted to have some continuity as well."

Stories published throughout the first half of January linked the Cowboys with big names such as Belichick and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. That reality, coupled with reactions from fans to the Schottenheimer decision, will understandably put additional pressure on the 51-year-old to succeed in his first season in charge. 

If he doesn't, rumors about the Jones family reaching out to Belichick's camp will almost certainly surface either before or during December.