The Dallas Cowboys are making a mess of the Brian Schottenheimer interview process.
The Dallas Cowboys announced Tuesday evening that they completed an interview with Brian Schottenheimer for their vacant head coach position. It marks the fourth one, with Kellen Moore, Robert Saleh and Leslie Frazier as the others.
Reports and rumors were all over the place on Tuesday relative to Schottenheimer with things reaching a critical mass when 105.3 The Fan’s Shan Shariff noted that an offer for him could be in the works. That may or may not be true, but if it is factual then there is a possibility that it is for something other than head coach.
Right after the team announced the completion of the interview, NFL Network’s Jane Slater reported that the Cowboys are considering Schottenheimer for head coach or offensive coordinator.
The #Cowboys just completed their interview with Brian Shottenheimer. I’m told he is being considered for both the HC and OC position. “Talking about everything” per source informed. The interview lasted well over 3.5 hours
— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) January 22, 2025
If this sounds strange it is because it is. You see, Schottenheimer was just the offensive coordinator for the Cowboys and was so for two seasons. He did not call plays in that time as Mike McCarthy did, but the truly strange thing is that he is being evaluated for two roles and theoretically having to interview for the one that he has held for two years.
Obviously on some level it makes sense for Schottenheimer to have to interview all over again considering a new head coach will be running the team. But with that being the case it would make sense for that person to be the one interviewing him and not the front office. This whole process remains very difficult to make sense out of.
Imagine if Schottenheimer is told that he is not head coach material but that he can be the team’s offensive coordinator (again) and that this decision is being made before a head coach is properly in place. Now imagine being someone asked to take the head coach position with an offensive coordinator in place (Wade Phillips if you are reading this then we know that you literally know what that’s like) and also potentially to take on your future successor as well, if you buy all of the Jason Witten talk.
This appears to be meddling upon meddling which is the only thing constant with the Dallas Cowboys these days.
