January 25, 2025 11:22 am CT Late into the night, the Dallas Cowboys made an announcement of their new head coaching hire. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has now taken over the reins, after being on Mike McCarthy’s staff over the last three years. Fans and media have watched a weird coaching search play out since the end of the regular season. Dallas had a one-week, exclusive negotiating window with McCarthy, allowing them to deny the Chicago Bears permission to interview him despite his contract’s expiration. It’s been said one of the reasons McCarthy walked was because Owner Jerry Jones insisted Jason Witten be part of the next coaching staff. Jones reportedly didn’t have any foresight that McCarthy would turn down his offers and walk away, and was left holding the bag, scrambling to execute a last-minute coaching search. He missed his window to interview two well-regarded coordinators, the Lions Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, during the wild-card round, as both took jobs before ever talking with Dallas. There was a conversation, but no interview, with Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, and former NFL coaches Leslie Frazier and Robert Saleh were brought in for interviews that satisfied the NFL’s Rooney Rule. The club had a virtual interview with former assistant and current Philadelphia OC Kellen Moore, but for the past week, it’s been clear to those in the know that the team was focusing on Schottenheimer.