Based on the coaching staff that Brian Schottenheimer has put together, it seems the Dallas Cowboys made the right decision to move on from Mike McCarthy. That obviously has to translate into winning, but it is hard not to be encouraged by Schottenheimer's hires.
An imperative characteristic of a good coach is their ability to surround themselves with a strong staff. Well, Schottenheimer has hit home run after home run, culminating in Friday's hire of Kansas State offensive coordinator Conor Riley as offensive line coach.
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It's become clear why Schottenheimer went from a dark horse candidate for the job to the overwhelming favorite seemingly overnight. It looked like Kellen Moore's job to lose, but Schottenheimer swept the Cowboys' off their feet in his initial interview.
Schotty was invited back for a second interview the following day. The two sides talked for a combined 10 hours between the two-sit downs. A few days later, Dallas stunned the NFL landscape and announced the hire.
McCarthy, meanwhile, has since announced he'll sit out the 2025 season and re-enter the coaching mix in 2026. It's an unfortunate turn of events for McCarthy, but he handled himself with class on his way out of Dallas.
Mike McCarthy did Brian Schottenheimer a big favor after the Cowboys moved on
According to FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer, McCarthy helped Schottenheimer prepare for his head-coaching interview with the Cowboys.
That is really a classy move by McCarthy. While Glazer called the Cowboys-McCarthy split an "amicable" parting, McCarthy didn't exactly leave on great terms. The front office saddled him with a top-heavy roster that predictably struggled after a wave of injuries. It says a lot about McCarthy's character that he lended a helping hand to his now-former assistant.
Of course, Schottenheimer and McCarthy are longtime friends.
Their paths overlapped back in 1998, when Schottenheimer worked as an assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs under his late father and coaching great Marty Schottenheimer.
Then the head coach of the Chiefs, it was Schottenheimer who hired McCarthy for his first job in the NFL in 1993 as an offensive quality control coach with Kansas City. McCarthy was promoted to quarterbacks coach two years later. They worked together for six seasons in total and McCarthy and Brian became good friends along the way.
They didn't cross paths again until the 2022 season with the Cowboys, when McCarthy hired Schottenheimer as an offensive consultant.
All things considered, it's pretty cool that McCarthy still honors his loyalty to the Schottenheimer's. He wasn't going to let a messy divorce dissuade him from helping out an old friend.
Schottenheimer is such a good communicator that he likely would've nailed his interview with or without McCarthy's help, but this just confirms that McCarthy is one of the good guys in the league.