Nothing the Cowboys do is quiet, but Dallas went with one of the quietest possible choices to complete its head coaching search in January by hiring Brian Schottenheimer.
Schottenheimer, a longtime NFL assistant who had been serving as offensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy, didn't come with as much fanfare as some of the Cowboys' other candidates, nor did his arrival fire up a fan base hungry for a return to the playoffs. Still, Jerry Jones confidently defended his decision even while admitting it was a risk.
Jones has generally been loyal to his head coaches in recent years — many felt Schottenheimer's two predecessors were given longer leashes than they deserved — but the 51-year-old coach is in for a challenge if the goal is getting Dallas back to the playoffs.
Here's a look at each head coach who has served under Jones, from Schottenheimer to Jimmy Johnson.
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Cowboys head coach timeline under Jerry Jones
Jimmy Johnson (1989-93)
- Record: 44-36
Upon taking over as owner of the Cowboys, Jones made one of his most dramatic decisions by firing coach Tom Landry after 29 seasons. Jones hired his former Arkansas teammate, Jimmy Johnson, who had been serving as the head coach at the University of Miami.
Johnson's 44-36 record in Dallas probably doesn't do him justice, as he helped turn the Cowboys into a dynasty after finishing a dismal 1-15 in his first season on the job. The Cowboys were a playoff team by Johnson's third season and won the Super Bowl in each of his final two campaigns with the team.
Johnson seemingly had the accolades to write his own ticket in Dallas, but a dispute with Jones brought his tenure to an end after only five seasons. Just two months after winning his second championship, Johnson parted ways with the franchise in a decision that earned Jones widespread criticism.
MORE: Jerry Jones timeline of Cowboys contract disputes
Barry Switzer (1994-97)
- Record: 40-24
While Switzer only spent four seasons in Dallas, the former Oklahoma coach at least partly justified Jones' decision by winning the Super Bowl in his second season. The Cowboys remained one of the NFL's best teams in 1994 but fell to the powerhouse 49ers in the NFC championship game. Dallas came back stronger in 1995, earning the franchise's most recent NFC championship appearance and capturing the Cowboys' third title in four years.
Switzer's first losing season in Dallas was his last, as he resigned after the Cowboys lost their final five games in 1997.
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Chan Gailey (1998-99)
- Record: 18-14
Jones hired Steelers offensive coordinator Chan Gailey as Switzer's replacement ahead of the 1998 season, and the Cowboys did experience a resurgence to an NFC East title with 10 wins in Gailey's first season. An injury-plagued 1999 season, however, saw Dallas finish 8-8 after a 3-0 start. While the Cowboys still reached the playoffs, Jones gave Gailey a quick hook and fired him following a playoff loss to the Vikings.
Dave Campo (2000-02)
- Record: 15-33
The Cowboys stayed in-house after Gailey's firing, promoting Dave Campo to head coach after 11 seasons as an assistant with the franchise. Campo was Dallas' defensive backs coach during its first two championship seasons in the 1990s and took over as defensive coordinator before the Cowboys' Super Bowl season in 1995.
The decision did not pan out. The Cowboys went 5-11 in each of Campo's three seasons, predictably struggling in 2001 after Troy Aikman's retirement but failing to show signs of progress after entering 2002 with higher expectations. Campo is the only head coach in Cowboys history to never record a winning season or reach the playoffs.
Bill Parcells (2003-06)
- Record: 34-30
Looking to re-establish some credibility to the franchise, Jones lured two-time Super Bowl champion Bill Parcells out of retirement to replace Campo ahead of the 2003 season.
In the short term, the decision worked. Parcells guided the Cowboys to the playoffs in his first season, overseeing a five-win improvement, though Dallas regressed to 6-10 in 2004. The Cowboys went 9-7 in both 2005 and 2006, with Tony Romo emerging as the franchise's long-term starting quarterback in 2006, but Parcells never won a playoff game in those four seasons and retired again ahead of the 2007 season.
MORE: Revisiting Deion Sanders NFL career, relationship with Jerry Jones
Wade Phillips (2007-10)
- Record: 34-22
Jones cast a wide net in his coaching search ahead of the 2007 season, and he landed on Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. Phillips, a longtime defensive assistant in the NFL, had two previous head coaching stints and two more interim head coaching stints. He enjoyed instant success in Dallas, winning 13 games in 2007, though the Cowboys flamed out with a loss in their first playoff game. From there, Phillips' tenure was rockier. The Cowboys put together winning seasons in 2008 an 2009 but only made the playoffs in the latter campaign and were eliminated in the divisional round. The wheels fell off for Phillips in 2007, when Dallas started 1-7. Phillips was fired by Jones after a 38-point loss to the Packers and remains the only head coach Jones has fired in the middle of a season.
Jason Garrett (2010-19)
- Record: 85-67
The longest-tenured head coach of the Jones era, Garrett replaced Phillips on an interim basis in 2010 and earned the full-time job after leading a 5-3 finish. The Cowboys suffered only one losing season during Garrett's nine full years in Dallas when Romo suffered two fractured collarbones in 2015. Playoff success, however, eluded Garrett. The Cowboys went 8-8 four times under Garrett and reached the playoffs three times, winning only two playoff games and never reaching the NFC championship game.
Garrett pulled himself off the hot seat with resurgent seasons at multiple points during his decade leading the Cowboys, but the franchise ultimately parted ways with him after missing the playoffs in 2019.
MORE: Revisiting Deion Sanders NFL career, relationship with Jerry Jones
Mike McCarthy (2020-24)
- Record: 49-35
Mike McCarthy spent the 2019 season out of the NFL after a 13-year run in Green Bay that included a Super Bowl win, but he became the Cowboys' head coach within 48 hours of Garrett's exit.
McCarthy's tenure largely went in the same direction as Garrett's, with plenty of regular season success but little to show for it. After a rocky 2021 campaign, McCarthy won 12 games in three consecutive seasons but won a playoff game only once and never reached the NFC championship game.
Jones stuck with McCarthy after an embarrassing upset loss to the Packers in the 2023 divisional round, but McCarthy's contract expired after a 7-10 campaign in 2024, and the two sides decided to move on with 49 wins and one playoff win on the books over five years.
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Brian Schottenheimer (2025-present)
- Record: 0-0
Rather than make a Parcells or McCarthy type of hire, Jones made a call that resembled his decisions to hire Campo and Garrett by staying in-house and promoting Brian Schottenheimer.
Schottenheimer, the son of former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer, has made numerous stops as an offensive assistant between the NFL and collegiate levels but entered 2025 with no head coaching experience.
"This is as big a risk as you could take. As big a risk as you could take," Jones said as he introduced Schottenheimer as the Cowboys' head coach. "No head coaching experience." At the same time, Jones said he had the pulse of the Cowboys' locker room and could see how Schottenheimer resonated with the players.