In Brian Schottenheimer, the Dallas Cowboys found the perfect coach for Jerry Jones

For the third time, Jerry Jones looked down the hall to find his head coach.

And if hiring Brian Schottenheimer on Friday night to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys doesn’t make you sick, wait ‘til you read what Jerry said.

“There became a point where there was no doubt in my mind that the best man to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones said. “It reduces the transition.”

And, “(The coach) will be overseer and ultimate decision maker,” Jones said of man who is “uniquely qualified to coach the Dallas Cowboys.”

And, finally, “When you make a decision like this, you receive a great deal of input,” Jones said. “The overwhelming majority of input that I received had a very common thread, and the theme was very simple: ‘You have a man on your staff who is very smart, extremely talented and ready to be a head coach in the NFL.’ And that was from third parties.”

The kicker: Jerry did not say any of this about Brian Schottenheimer. All of these quotes come from the press conference on Jan. 26, 2000, when Jerry introduced defensive coordinator Dave Campo as the new head coach.

You will notice all of these statements then fit this hire now, which was announced by the team at 8:50 p.m. on a Friday. The Cowboys used the Friday news dump to announce their own head coach.

Expect Jerry to say something in the vicinity of all of his Campo statements when Schotty’ is introduced on Monday morning.

As Mark Twain allegedly said, “History does not repeat itself but it rhymes.” Twain should have said, “The Dallas Cowboys don’t rhyme. They repeat themselves.”

Of all the changes in this NFL offseason, the Dallas Cowboys won the Lombardi Trophy of Stupid following a coaching search that left a fan base feeling abused, insulted, frustrated and again crushed.

The Cowboys didn’t think Mike McCarthy would walk, and rather than venture out of their comfort zone to find his replacement they promoted an assistant whose reputation was forged out of his last name, and ability to find another job rather than excelling in them.

Just like Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, and Bill Parcells, Brian Schottenheimer is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Just like Chan Gailey, Dave Campo and Wade Phillips.

Unlike with every previous hire Jerry has made since he bought the Cowboys in 1989, there is no good way to spin something that reeks of Campo 2.0.

1989: Replacing Tom Landry was the hardest of hard sells, but at least Jimmy Johnson built a monster at the University of Miami.

1994: The Cowboys were so good when they hired Barry Switzer fans knew the Star could run a little while longer.

1998: First-time head coach Chan Gailey had success as an offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And, he wasn’t Switzer.

2000: First-time head coach Campo was a good company man, and solid defensive coordinator. And, he wasn’t Switzer.

2003: Bill Parcells was a future Hall of Famer with Super Bowls with a track record of flipping three different franchises; the Cowboys needed him to flip a fan base that was checked out.

2007: Wade Phillips had success in the regular season as an NFL head coach, and his reputation as a defensive coordinator was excellent.

2010: Jason Garrett had been groomed for the job, and when he took over for Wade in 2010 the team played well despite a depleted roster.

2020: Mike McCarthy was a winner in Green Bay where he won a Super Bowl.

2025: Brian Schottenheimer? He was hired by McCarthy to be an offensive analyst, and promoted to offensive coordinator but wasn’t given the responsibility to call plays.

The only real difference with this hire as opposed to some of the others is that this has a very Stephen feel. In a card game of 21, the father would “hit” on 20, whereas the chosen son would stand on 5.

Much like with Campo, there is nothing on Schottenheimer’s resume that suggests this is anything other than a nice guy, a “Yes” man in a headset. His resume says NFL lifer assistant who can score a job, be a good soldier/employee, who landed this career because of his dad.

He is not the first, nor will he be the last, coach to have a FastPass to NFL coaching because of his father. Can’t hold that against him.

The curious part is that Brian has been an assistant coach since 1998, and while he had the tag of “Hot Assistant Coach” for a while, it faded. He’s served as an analyst, a quarterbacks coach, a tight ends coach, and an offensive coordinator since he started his career with the St. Louis Rams, in 1997.

He has been in the game his whole life, and he could not have had a better mentor than his dad, the late NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer. Marty died in 2021, at the age of 77.

With the right people, and players, around him, Brian might be solid. His problems are many, starting with Jerry he inherits as well as a roster full of holes.

If Brian is somehow his dad as a head coach, the Cowboys scored a winner.

To expect that Brian is Marty is not fair to the son, but fairness has no place in the NFL. If it did, Brian Schottenheimer would not be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

But he is, because, while history does not repeat itself, Jerry Jones does.