It all started with a phone call. And it came from Brian Schottenheimer to his mom, Pat. Just moments after learning he’d be the Dallas Cowboys’ next head coach, he couldn’t help himself. “Mama, I’m going to get a chance to get what Daddy didn’t get, a Super Bowl, if it kills me. And the first one will be for him,” Schotty said. That’s a man walking into one of the NFL’s biggest pressure cookers and promising to do what his legendary father, Marty Schottenheimer, never could. No small goals here.
Following Marty is tricky. The man had a brand. “Marty Ball” was smashmouth football: pound the rock, play defense, repeat until the other team breaks. But Brian’s not interested in rolling out a museum exhibit. His résumé already stands on its own – 25 years as an assistant, nine teams, two stints leading the NFL in rushing as an offensive coordinator (Jets in 2009, Seahawks in 2018). Before joining Dallas as an HC, he previously served as their OC alongside McCarthy in 2023. He’s called playoff games, rebuilt offenses, and now he’s calling plays for Dak Prescott as a first-time head coach.
Here’s where the difference comes into focus – straight from Brian’s own words. Marty built his philosophy for an era when brute-force running could overwhelm an opponent over four quarters. Brian’s looking at the NFL in 2025 and seeing a different battlefield. On The Doomsday Podcast, Schottenheimer set the record straight: “Defensive lines have gotten so damn good and explosive that if you’re not a team that can run the football and control the line of scrimmage, you know, those are the two biggest determining factors to me.” So, Schotty’s offense will live in the now. He’ll build around player strengths, not force-feed them into 1995’s playbook.
Because the one thing he refuses to do? Pretend to be somebody else. It’s a promise he made to himself – and one his dad drilled into him. “If you ever get a shot to be a head coach, one thing you should never do is change. Just be yourself,” Brian remembers. Which is exactly why he’s tossing Marty Ball overboard. At least, most of it. Schotty also clearly stated, “I’m not Marty Ball, okay? I’m not Marty Ball. Fans, I’m not Marty Ball.”
ICYMI: #Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer guests with me and @mattmosley on the Doomsday podcast.
Schotty on play style: “I was raised in that. I mean, I’m not MartyBall, OK? I’’m not MartyBall, fans. But certain philosophies haven’t changed.” https://t.co/OqpCi6JEkR
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) August 8, 2025
That’s why this offseason has been as much about connection as scheme. Paintball trips. Team dinners. Moving lockers around. Even passing out Whataburger to every employee at The Star in Frisco. He’s convinced that when the schedule gets ugly – and it always does – the relationships built now will carry the Cowboys through. “If our players ever say I don’t have their best interest, then I’m not doing my job, and I’m not being authentic to myself.” But here’s the twist: while Schottenheimer’s happily ditching most of his dad’s blueprint, there’s one tactic he’s keeping like a family heirloom – defense as the foundation.
One Marty lesson survives in Brian Schottenheimer’s blueprint
Not in the coordinator’s cliché sense, either. He’s talking about owning the line of scrimmage, protecting the football, and taking it away. It’s old-school football, sure, but in a league stuffed with first-round pass rushers, it’s survival. You can’t win shootouts every week if your quarterback’s horizontal by halftime.
But as Schottenheimer puts it, “Those principles haven’t changed in really a hundred years of the NFL because of those run plays, you have what? Play passes. And those play passes usually create what? Explosives.” He calls this new identity “Schotty Ball.” Not Marty Ball 2.0. Not ground-and-pound nostalgia. Modern football keeps one inherited commandment: win at the line. In a few months, Dallas will find out if that hybrid can do what Marty never did – bring home a Lombardi.
For Brian, that chase isn’t about living in his father’s shadow – it’s about building something his own way. Still, if “Schotty Ball” works, the Cowboys won’t just be tough to play against. Marty always dreamed of coaching this kind of team, and Brian will hold the trophy.
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