Dallas Cowboys coaching search: Likelihood of hiring Brian Schottenheimer revealed by Adam Schefter

The Dallas Cowboys have spoken with several head coaching candidates over the past 10 days, but one appears to be standing out at this point. ESPN insider Adam Schefter revealed Thursday on Get Up that Brian Schottenheimer “may be the guy in Dallas.”

Brian Schottenheimer spent the past two days interviewing with Cowboys officials and is clearly squarely in the running, per Schefter. Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys each of the past two seasons.

“Brian Schottenheimer started meeting with the Jones family on Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night. Those meetings went throughout the day Wednesday. Broke up early last night. And obviously, by the length of those meetings, that would tell you that Brian Schottenheimer is in square contention to become the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys,” Schefter said.

News first broke earlier this week that Schottenheimer was considered the favorite in Vegas to land the job. Again, there are clearly other candidates, but Jerry Jones seems to be very interested in promoting Schottenheimer to become Cowboys head coach to replace Mike McCarthy.

“We’ll see if the two sides figure out a way to get it done. But we’ve talked an awful lot about some of the candidates that they’ve spoken to,” Schefter said. “The former Jets head coach Robert Saleh, the former Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier. They met last week with Kellen Moore, the Eagles offensive coordinator. But the focus the last 24-48 hours has been on Brian Schottenheimer.”

Schottenheimer was an analyst with the Cowboys in 2022, before serving as the offensive coordinator in Dallas each of the past two seasons. He was also previously on staff with the Colts, Seahawks and Jaguars, among others.

Schottenheimer was the OC for the Seahawks from 2018-20. His name wasn’t receiving much buzz for a head coaching job this cycle, but clearly the Cowboys are interested.

He has a relationship with quarterback Dak Prescott from his time as an assistant, and in years past he was mentioned for head coaching jobs.

“[He] has a history in this league. [He] once upon a time was the hot coordinator candidate and didn’t take some of those interviews. And then somehow lost the opportunity to go get a head coaching job,” Schefter said. “Now, he may have an opportunity to get a head coaching job. He may be the guy in Dallas. We’ll see what the Jones family decides to do next, but he clearly is in contention to become the next head coach there.”