Why Brian Schottenheimer Is a Perfect Fit for Jerry’s Team

Last Friday, the Cowboys made the underwhelming decision to hire Brian Schottenheimer as the team's next head coach.

While many Cowboy fans were disappointed by this move, few should be surprised by the decision because Jerry Jones has made it abundantly clear that he simply wants a coach who will always defer to him.

On paper, the decision to hire Schottenheimer is puzzling at best. He has no head coaching experience at any level and has most recently been the offensive coordinator of an uninspired and underwhelming offense for the past two seasons.

However, while Schottenheimer may not jump out on paper compared to other candidates, he does have one thing Jones looks for in all his employees: the ability to toe the line and be a yes man to whatever Jones may request.

While it is no longer a secret that Jones expects to have full control of the team's roster decisions, his ego has grown so large over the past couple of decades that he now expects to have full control over his coaches. Jones's thirst for control is the reason that a mediocre coach like Jason Garrett was able to remain in Dallas for a decade.

Jones's need for complete control of the team is also why Mike McCarthy is no longer in Dallas. While McCarthy was successful overall during his time in Dallas, the dynamic between him and Jones always felt uneasy, and it seemed that McCarthy was simply tolerating Jones and his antics during most of his time in Dallas.

After McCarthy's contract expired, however, he and Jones could not reach an agreement to bring McCarthy back to Dallas, and Jerry's constant micro-management and belittlement of McCarthy was likely a significant factor in the sides' failure to reach an agreement.

With the hire of Schottenheimer, Jones is reversing course and hiring a candidate that feels all too familiar to him. Out of all the head coaches Jones has hired, only three of them have had prior experience as an NFL head coach. Jones’s decision to hire inexperienced coaches is no coincidence but just another ploy to give him full control of his team. 

Schottenheimer is simply nothing more than another pawn in Jones’s game. Jones even spoke about how much he respects Schottenheimer's ability to defer to people in charge.

"I've watched him bite his lip sometimes when he didn't necessarily agree with that direction. But he bit his lip, as his daddy would have told him to bite your lip," said Jones.

While it is not fair to judge Schottenheimer since he has not coached a single game yet, fans should be concerned nonetheless.

Of the head coaches Jones has hired, only one was able to take the Cowboys to the Super Bowl, and that was Bary Switzer way back in 1996. This statistic does not bode well for Schottenheimer, who could become another one of Jones's hires who failed to live up to expectations and was crushed by unrealistic aspirations to succeed under an incompetent owner.

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