 Schottenheimer with theDallas Cowboys in 2025 | |
| Dallas Cowboys | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1973-10-16)October 16, 1973 (age 52) Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | Blue Valley (KS) |
| College | |
| Position | Quarterback |
| Career history | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season | 7–9–1 (.441) |
| Coaching profile atPro Football Reference | |
Brian Schottenheimer (born October 16, 1973) is an American professionalfootball coach who is thehead coach for theDallas Cowboys of theNational Football League (NFL). He previously served as theoffensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys,Seattle Seahawks,New York Jets,St. Louis Rams and theUniversity of Georgia and also served as an assistant coach for theWashington Redskins,San Diego Chargers,Indianapolis Colts, andJacksonville Jaguars.[1]
Schottenheimer was born inDenver, Colorado.[2] His father wasMarty Schottenheimer. He prepped atBlue Valley High School inOverland Park, Kansas, where he quarterbacked his team to the Kansas Class 5A state football championship in 1991, while earning first-team all-state and honorable mention high schoolAll-American honors.[3]
He threw for 2,586 yards and 26 touchdowns in his career.[4] His success at Blue Valley High School led to a scholarship at theUniversity of Kansas.[5]
Schottenheimer first attended theUniversity of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, where he was a member of theKansas Jayhawks football team for a single season in 1992 serving as a backup to starting quarterback Chip Hilleary.[6]
He transferred to theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, sat out a year as required by NCAA transfer rules, and then played for coachSteve Spurrier'sFlorida Gators football team from1994 to1996.[7]
He served as backup to starting quarterbackDanny Wuerffel, and was a member of the Gators' 1996Bowl Alliance national championship team.[8] During his college playing career, he completed twenty-five of thirty-eight passes (65.8%) for 290 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for a touchdown.
Schottenheimer graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science in 1997.[4]
Schottenheimer was an assistant coach from 1997 to 2005 with theSt. Louis Rams,Kansas City Chiefs,Syracuse Orange, andUSC Trojans, including as quarterback coach for theWashington Redskins andSan Diego Chargers.[9][10] During that time, he coached under his father,Marty, with the Chiefs, Redskins and Chargers.[11]
In 2006, Schottenheimer became the offensive coordinator for theNew York Jets.[5] The team made the playoffs, the offense improved from the previous season and quarterbackChad Pennington was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.[12][13]
In 2007, Schottenheimer's name was floated around as being a possible replacement for the departedNick Saban as theMiami Dolphins head coach. He later removed his name from consideration for the Dolphins head coaching position, preferring to stay in New York.[14] The Jets went 4–12 and failed to make the playoffs.[15]
In 2008, the offense scored 405 points, just the third time in franchise history reaching the 400-point mark. Led by quarterbackBrett Favre and Pro Bowl running backThomas Jones, the team registered 42 offensive touchdowns (their most in a decade). Jones would also lead the AFC with 1,312 rushing yards and break the Jets single-season record with 13 rushing touchdowns. The Jets experienced a late season collapse and missed the playoffs despite an 8–3 start.[16]
In 2009, afterEric Mangini was fired, Schottenheimer was one of the first candidates interviewed for the open head coaching position. However, he eventually lost out toBaltimore Ravens defensive coordinatorRex Ryan. Ryan kept Schottenheimer on staff.[17] The Jets reached the AFC Championship Game with rookie quarterbackMark Sanchez.[18]
On January 13, 2010, Schottenheimer announced that he was staying with the Jets as offensive coordinator and would not interview for the head coaching vacancy with theBuffalo Bills.[19] The team finished with an 11–5 record and advanced to the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive season.[20]
In 2011, the Jets scored only 50 points in the last three games (all losses), while finishing with an 8–8 record and the 29th rank in total offense. On January 6, 2012, he was interviewed for theJacksonville Jaguars head coaching position.[21] On January 10, 2012, the Jets parted ways with Schottenheimer.[22]
On January 21, 2012, Schottenheimer was named the offensive coordinator of theSt. Louis Rams under new head coachJeff Fisher.[23] The offense ranked 25th at the end of the season.[24]
In 2013, starting quarterbackSam Bradford tore his leftACL on a run out of bounds after a hit from safetyMike Mitchell in the Week 7 game against theCarolina Panthers.[25]Kellen Clemens was named the starter for the last 9 games and the offense was ranked 21st.
In 2014, Bradford suffered an injury to the same ACL after being sacked in the third preseason game against theCleveland Browns and missed the entire season.[26]Shaun Hill andAustin Davis were the starters at quarterback at different points during the season. The team finished ranked 28th in total offense (314.7 yards per game) and 21st in scoring (20.3 points per game).
On January 7, 2015, he was named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for theUniversity of Georgia under head coachMark Richt, replacingMike Bobo who accepted the head coach position atColorado State University.[27] His starter at quarterback was Virginia transferGreyson Lambert. He lost starting running backNick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury in the sixth game against theUniversity of Tennessee.
The offense averaged 26.3 points per game (15 points less than in 2014), helping the team achieve a 10–3 record.[28] Following Richt's firing at the end of the season, Schottenheimer announced on December 14 to his position players that he would not return, as he was not retained by new head coachKirby Smart.[29]
On January 18, 2016, theIndianapolis Colts announced the hiring of Schottenheimer as their quarterbacks coach, replacingClyde Christensen who left to become theoffensive coordinator for theMiami Dolphins.[30] He contributed toAndrew Luck having arguably the best-overall performance of his career, establishing a single-season career-high in completion percentage (63.5) and being ranked among the top 10 in the league in passing yards (4,240, eighth), passing touchdowns (31, fifth) and quarterback rating (96.4, ninth).
In 2017, Luck was forced to miss the season while recovering from an offseason right shoulder surgery.Scott Tolzien started the season-opener, before making way forJacoby Brissett, who took over as the starter in Week 2 after being acquired in a trade. Helping Brisset learn the playbook week by week, Schottenheimer contributed to a production of 3,098 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, 63 carries for 260 yards and 4 rushing scores in 16 games (15 starts).[31]
On January 15, 2018, theSeattle Seahawks named Schottenheimer as their offensive coordinator.[32] The Seahawks went on to have the league's top rushing offense for the2018 season and quarterbackRussell Wilson had a career high 110.9 passer rating.[33][34]
In 2019, Wilson threw for over 4,000 yards for the third time in his career, passed for 32 touchdowns (3rd in NFL), set a career-low with five interceptions and was named the NFC starter for the2020 Pro Bowl.Chris Carson rushed for a career-high 1,230 yards, while the offense ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in rushing yards per game (137.5, fourth), total yards per game (374.4, eighth), points per game (25.3, ninth).[35]
In 2020, the offense set a franchise record for most points scored (459 points).[36] Despite a torrid start to the season which saw career highs for quarterbackRussell Wilson in touchdowns and completion percentage, Seattle's offense struggled considerably during the final weeks, with Schottenheimer taking the brunt of the scrutiny due to lack of creativity in the offense and adjustments to the scheme.[37] On January 12, 2021, Schottenheimer was fired by the Seahawks following the Seahawks' Wild Card loss to theLos Angeles Rams due to "philosophical differences".[37]
Three players made anAll-Pro team during his tenure, quarterbackRussell Wilson, offensive tackleDuane Brown and wide receiverDK Metcalf.
On February 1, 2021, Schottenheimer was hired by theJacksonville Jaguars as their passing game coordinator under head coachUrban Meyer.[38] He was in charge of calling the offensive plays for the final four games of the season, after Meyer was fired.[39]
On February 8, 2022, upon the Jaguars hiring ofDoug Pederson as the new head coach, Schottenheimer was not retained on the coaching staff.[40]
On March 24, 2022, Schottenheimer was hired by theDallas Cowboys as a consultant.[41] He worked mostly withdefensive coordinatorDan Quinn, providing analysis of opposing teams offenses.
On February 4, 2023, afterKellen Moore left to join theLos Angeles Chargers staff, Schottenheimer was promoted to offensive coordinator, with head coachMike McCarthy taking over the play-calling responsibility.[42] The team scored 30 or more points in seven of their final 11 games, while finishing with the highest-ranking scoring offense in the league (29.9 points per game) and fifth in yards (371.6 yards per game).[43][44]
In 2024, the offense regressed, averaging 327.5 yards, 20.6 points, and scoring 30 or more points in just three games. Part of the issue was the season-ending injury to starting quarterbackDak Prescott.[45]
On January 24, 2025, a couple of weeks after McCarthy and the Cowboys decided not to renew McCarthy's contract, Schottenheimer was promoted to head coach.[46] Schottenheimer's decision came as a surprise, as he was not known to be in consideration over more qualified candidates, until he became a betting favorite to be the team's next head coach on January 20, and after it was confirmed that his first official interview took place on January 21.[47][48] It was reported in the media that one of Schottenheimer's supporters was Prescott.[49]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| DAL | 2025 | 7 | 9 | 1 | .441 | 2nd in NFC East | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 7 | 9 | 1 | .441 | — | — | — | |||
Schottenheimer is the son ofMarty Schottenheimer, who had been the head coach of theCleveland Browns,Washington Redskins,San Diego Chargers, andKansas City Chiefs.[50] Brian's uncle,Kurt Schottenheimer, was also the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator for the Chiefs.[51] In addition to coaching, Schottenheimer is a frequent contributor to The 33rd Team, which describes itself as a "football Think Tank."[52]
In August 2025, Schottenheimer revealed that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002, at the age of 28, while serving as an Quarterbacks coach for the San Diego Chargers. He underwent surgery to remove his thyroid and 17 lymph nodes following a referral fromDan Snyder, and has since fully recovered.[53][54]
