Dallas Cowboys coaching search: Who will be the next head coach under Jerry Jones?

After five seasons with Mike McCarthy at the helm, the Dallas Cowboys are on the hunt for a new head coach.

The next head coach will be tasked with succeeding where so many of his predecessors have failed. The Cowboys last won a Super Bowl after the 1995 season under Barry Switzer, who coached the team that Jimmy Johnson built to its third championship in four seasons.

Since Switzer resigned in 1998, six Cowboys coaches have accounted for a total of four playoff wins in 27 seasons that include zero appearances in the Super Bowl or the NFC championship game. Despite that history, expectations will remain high in Dallas with a roster that’s built and paid to win now, featuring high-priced offensive weapons Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb and defensive star Micah Parsons, who’s due for his own lucrative contract extension.

Those expectations will feature not only returning to but winning a Super Bowl in Dallas to bookend the Jones era with at least one more Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The offseason coaching carousel is in full swing with the news that the Chicago Bears are hiring former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, in addition to Mike Vrabel joining the New England Patriots. That leaves the Cowboys as one of five teams still in search of a head coach alongside the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders.

Who are the Cowboys coaching candidates?

While the other four teams each have a lengthy list of candidate interviews, the Cowboys have officially interviewed just three candidates: former Jets head coach Robert Saleh, former Minnesota Vikings head coach and Seattle Seahawks assistant Leslie Frazier and Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who held the same position in Dallas from 2019-22.

The Cowboys are also reportedly tied to other candidates, including former players Deion Sanders and Jason Witten. Witten has won two state championships in four seasons as a high school coach in Texas since retiring in 2020 from a 17-season NFL career as a tight end for the Cowboys and Raiders. He has no coaching experience beyond the high school level.

Sanders played 14 Hall of Fame seasons as an NFL cornerback, including a five-year stint and a Super Bowl championship with the Cowboys. He’s since embarked on a college coaching career that’s taken him from Jackson State to Colorado, where he’s spent the last two seasons coaching the Buffaloes to a 13-12 record.

Current Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has also emerged as a betting favorite to secure the job, for whatever that’s worth. Schottenheimer’s never been a head coach and there are no reports that he’s actually interviewing for the job. But like Sanders and Witten, he has familiarity with Jones, which historically goes a long way in Jones’ hiring decisions.