Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer earns high praise from Commanders’ Dan Quinn

The hiring of Brian Schottenheimer by the Dallas Cowboys has the seal of approval from one of his former colleagues.

Before becoming the Washington Commanders’ coach in Feb. 2024, Dan Quinn spent three years as the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator in his final two seasons in Dallas.

Quinn said on Wednesday that he has no doubt Schottenheimer will prove to be a great hire for the Cowboys.

"He’s gonna do a fantastic job. He has high-level coaching and high-level relatability. When you put those two things together, that’s a really rare combination. And he’s got them both."

Schottenheimer was promoted to coach of the Cowboys in January a few weeks after the club parted ways with Mike McCarthy.

Quinn went on to say that Schottenheimer helped him out “a lot” when he was with the Cowboys, adding:

"I knew then that he had rare things about him."

In 2024, the Cowboys’ offense took a step back statistically under Brian Schottenheimer, averaging 328.4 yards per game, according to ESPN. This was after boasting a 371.6-yard average in the previous campaign.

At the same time, the offense scored over 30 points in only three games last season, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Brian Schottenheimer had great role models

While the 2025 campaign will be Brian Schottenheimer’s first as an NFL head coach, he’s learned from some of the best coaches in the game.

His late father Marty took the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs in four of his first five seasons as an NFL coach in the 80s. This came before he guided the Kansas City Chiefs to the post-season in seven of his 10 years in charge.

During his tenure with the San Diego Chargers, the Associated Press named him the Coach of the Year in 2004. Marty Schottenheimer has an all-time regular season winning percentage of .613 and 200 career victories, good for seventh all-time in the regular season.

Another role model of Schottenheimer was his former head coach in Dallas, Mike McCarthy. While it didn’t work out for him and the Cowboys last season, McCarthy is still 12th in all-time regular-season head coaching victories with 174 and has a regular-season winning percentage of .608. He led the Green Bay Packers to their last Super Bowl title in 2010.

As a player, Brian Schottenheimer was a backup quarterback for the Florida Gators when they won the national championship in 1996.

Hearing an experienced coach like Quinn speak so highly of him shows how much Schottenheimer has matured as a leader. This should serve him well at a club where every decision you make is scrutinized.