Michael Irvin tears into Cowboys for passing on Deion Sanders and hiring Brian Schottenheimer - "We lost an opportunity"

The Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach. Jerry Jones promoted from within instead of hiring a new face as Brian Schottenheimer became the new head coach of the franchise.

The choice was met with skepticism. Schottenheimer has no previous experience as a head coach; not only that, he was part of the previous coaching staff, who led Dallas to a disappointing 7-10 record in 2024. Fans were calling for major changes and welcomed Mike McCarthy's firing, but expected a different hire.

Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin, who works as a media personality currently, is another fan who's unhappy with Schottenheimer's promotion. He wanted a bolder hire to change the fortunes of the franchise, with former teammate Deion Sanders, currently the head coach of the University of Colorado, as his preferred choice:

[2:59] We lost an opportunity here. I don't know what will happen with Coach Schottenheimer and the Dallas Cowboys. But Jerry is a shrewd businessman, and this opportunity, I'm shocked he did not see. I was pushing for Deion Sanders to be the next head coach, and I still stand 10 toes down on that push.

Michael Irvin fumes over Cowboys hiring internally

During the video, Irvin tore over Dallas' lack of discipline during the 2024 season, when things felt off from the start. Letting Mike McCarthy go, he says, was the right move, but keeping the same ideas was not a smart move:

[4:42] You're bringing in someone who was already inside as the head coach. You lose things there that you can't grab back. They don't have curfew. They don't have discipline. They were fourth in penalties issued. So, how do you fix that? How do you do that when you're coming from the inside? How do you do the same damn thing and get something different?

Many NFL teams had bold hires during the 2025 cycle. The Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson out of their division rival, the Detroit Lions. The Jacksonville Jaguars poached Liam Coen out of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots went with Mike Vrabel, to name a few.

In the previous coaching hiring cycle, the Patriots made a huge mistake by promoting Jerod Mayo internally, and New England paid the price with a 4-13 season. However, they corrected course, not giving him a second year.