The Dallas Cowboys are set up for a reboot in 2025 after moving on from Mike McCarthy.

After five seasons at the helm, McCarthy and owner/general manager Jerry Jones decided to part ways following the expiration of McCarthy’s contract. The team went on to tab longtime NFL—and most recently the Cowboys’—offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer as their next head coach.

Ahead of his first NFL scouting combine at the helm, Schottenheimer was asked about taking over for McCarthy. He gave a unique perspective on grabbing the reigns:

“Mike is an incredible coach,” he explained on Thursday. “I’ll put my fingerprint on [the Cowboys], for sure, but Mike is an awesome coach. Mike and Jerry [Jones] had a lot of hard conversations and it ended up not working out. But I will never talk about Mike McCarthy in any way but hold him in the highest regard. He’s one of my best friends in football. An amazing coach, an amazing mentor to me. And he’ll be back on the sidelines before too long.”

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer on carrying over things that Mike McCarthy had done as head coach:
 
“Oh yeah, a ton. Mike is an incredible coach. I’ll put my fingerprint on it, for sure. But Mike is an awesome coach. Mike and Jerry (Jones) had a lot of hard conversations and… pic.twitter.com/1ZHLoS7nEE

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) February 28, 2025

A really cool answer from someone who essentially had to take over for their fired boss.

Schottenheimer also gave a hilarious nod to Russell Wilson and the Seahawks during his media availability, but that’s beside the point.

The Cowboys—after a 7–10 season in 2024—head into ’25 with a (hopefully) healthy quarterback in Dak Prescott, the No. 12 overall pick in the NFL draft and just under $4 million in salary cap space.