The Cowboys have a hard time saying goodbye to coordinators whenever they get a new head coach.
The Dallas Cowboys have a new coaching staff. The hiring of Brian Schottenheimer marks the ninth head coach since Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989, and the tenth overall. For the first time in five years, the team will reset the coaching staff.
Well, sort of. It’s not a complete reset because Schottenheimer was with the staff as the team’s offensive coordinator. And when you really think about it, Jerry doesn’t like to rip off the band-aid and start fresh with a completely new coaching staff. With each new head coach he hires, he inevitably retains someone from the prior coaching staff. That’s not that uncommon, but what is unusual is how many times they keep one of the coordinators from the previous coaching regime.
When Jimmy Johnson took over in 1989, he brought in his own staff that included David Shula as the offensive coordinator and Dave Wannstedt as his defensive coordinator. Since then, Jerry has made eight new head coaching changes, and every change consisted of a returning offensive or defensive coordinator. Except one. Can you guess which one?
Let’s roll it back and look at how the Cowboys have avoided a complete overhaul and weirdly hung on to coordinators, again and again.
2025 New Head Coach – Brian Schottenheimer
Who’s sticking around: Offensive Coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer
Schottenheimer was the team’s offensive coordinator over the past two seasons, although it’s been widely reported that Mike McCarthy was calling the plays. Schottenheimer was also on the staff as a consultant the year before that. Hiring Schottenheimer came as a bit of a surprise, but they’ve been around him a lot over the last few years, and it’s apparent they like what they see.
2020 New Head Coach – Mike McCarthy
Who’s sticking around: Offensive Coordinator, Kellen Moore
The Joneses finally parted ways with their prodigal son, Jason Garrett, after coaching the Cowboys for 13 seasons, nine and a half as the head coach. While Garrett was gone, he left a parting gift in Kellen Moore, a guy who rose through the coaching ranks quickly under Garrett, emerging as the team’s offensive coordinator. During his four seasons as OC, Moore’s offense led the league in yards twice and finished in the top six in points scored three times. Moore is now the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
2011 New Head Coach – Jason Garrett
Who’s sticking around: Offensive Coordinator, Jason Garrett
Garrett took over from Wade Phillips midway through the 2010 season, but he resumed the play-calling duties he had as the team’s offensive coordinator under Phillips. Like Moore, Garrett was an intelligent but inexperienced coach whose impact was immediately felt. His first year as OC, the Cowboys scored 455 points, the second-most in franchise history at the time. The Cowboys finished top seven in points scored in three of his four seasons as OC.
2007 New Head Coach – Wade Phillips
Who’s sticking around: No one!
If you said it was Wade Phillips’ staff that didn’t inherit a new coordinator from the previous staff, you are correct. This might surprise people, considering Phillips seemed like one of the easiest head coaching hires to persuade. Of course, there should be an asterisk here because, as we all know, he inherited the Joneses’ hand-picked offensive coordinator in Garrett. But Garrett was new to Dallas, so it qualifies.
The team did hang on to assistants as secondary coach Todd Bowles and offensive line coach Tony Sparano were holdovers from Parcells’ staff. Both coaches went on to become NFL head coaches, with Bowles currently still coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
2003 New Head Coach – Bill Parcells
Who’s sticking around: Defensive Coordinator, Mike Zimmer
This is where my guess would have gone, as someone with the stature of Bill Parcells would certainly want to clean house, right? Parcells mostly did, but he hung on to DC Mike Zimmer, who had been with the Cowboys since joining Barry Switzer’s staff in 1994. Parcells knew a good thing when he saw it, as the defense was one of the lone respectable things about the Cowboys after the turn of the century. Zimmer went on to be head coach for the Minnesota Vikings for eight years before returning to Dallas last season as their defensive coordinator.
2000 New Head Coach – Dave Campo
Who’s sticking around: Defensive Coordinator, Dave Campo
While Schottenheimer and Garrett are in-house promotions from the coordinator position, the same is true for Dave Campo. Before getting the head coaching gig, Campo was a coach who had been with Jones since the beginning, joining Jimmy Johnson’s staff in 1989. Jerry was familiar with him, and Campo had gradually moved up the coaching ranks with the Cowboys.
1998 New Head Coach – Chan Gailey
Who’s sticking around: Defensive Coordinator, Dave Campo
Before being named head coach, Campo spent five years as the team’s defensive coordinator, starting in 1995 with Barry Switzer, and was retained when Chan Gailey took over for Switzer in 1998. Campo’s defense finished within the top 10 in points allowed in his first three seasons as DC, so it made sense why he stuck around.
1994 New Head Coach – Barry Switzer
Who’s sticking around: Defensive Coordinator, Butch Davis
Most of Jimmy Johnson’s coordinators moved on to head coaching jobs. Dave Wannstadt went to the Chicago Bears after their first Super Bowl win, and Norv Turner went to Washington after their next one. Switzer hung on to some of Jimmy’s guys like Campo, but he also kept Butch Davis as the team’s defensive coordinator. The defense was outstanding under Davis, ranking in the top three in both seasons as DC, but he left in 1995 to be the head of the Miami Hurricanes.
1989 New Head Coach – Jimmy Johnson
Who’s sticking around: No one.
When Jimmy took over, he remodeled everything. Not just the coaching staff, but the roster as well. The team went from an aging Tom Landry era to a complete resurgence that soon had people rhetorically asking, “How bout them Cowboys!”
While most everyone got the axe with the changing of power, the team did hang on to defensive backs coach Dick Nolan. The name should sound familiar to Cowboys fans as he was the father of Mike Nolan, the team’s defensive coordinator in 2020. Weirdly, both Nolans were defensive coordinators who later got head coaching jobs with the San Francisco 49ers, and finished their coaching careers back as a defensive coordinator for a Texas team. Like father, like son.
