Cowboys great Emmitt Smith questions team’s direction under Jerry Jones amid Brian Schottenheimer’s promotion

Last month, the Dallas Cowboys announced that Brian Schottenheimer would be promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach. The decision came after the Cowboys and Mike McCarthy failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension.

Schottenheimer's promotion has been met with some tepid reactions from fans and even some of the Cowboys’ former star players. Emmitt Smith is the latest franchise great to express displeasure with longtime team owner Jerry Jones’ decision to enter the 2025 season with Schottenheimer at the helm.

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Smith, who spent the majority of his Hall of Fame career with the Cowboys, suggested he would take a patient approach to Schottenheimer's coaching tenure in Dallas.

"I'm going to reserve most of my comments for a later date, but right now I'm just soaking it in," Smith told Sports Lens late last month. “What has happened and trying to analyze where we go from here and what it is going to look like. I don’t even know who he has on his staff yet, who he retained, who he got rid of, who he’s bringing in.”

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Smith followed up those comments by warning that the Cowboys' 2025 campaign could be disappointing, given his belief that the franchise's issues go beyond whoever is wearing the head coaching headset on the sideline.

"Next subject," Smith said during a recent appearance on ESPN Radio’s “Unsportsmanlike,” when asked about his feelings regarding Schottenheimer’s hiring. “I have no reaction. I just don’t know what to say. I know we have to give the man a chance, and I’m willing to give him a chance, an opportunity to turn things around. However, if we don’t align our vision and commitment to that vision, I think we’re going to get a lot of things that we’ve seen in the past, and that doesn’t feel good.”

"We need a lot more than Ashton Jeanty. All that talk about having a running back and a running game – there’s nothing wrong with our running game when there’s a commitment to the running game.… I think we’ve gotten so far away from what we all know as the Cowboys’ great teams. You don’t see that balance anymore. You see one way, and that’s disappointing," Smith added.

Jones contacted former Cowboys star and current Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders during the hiring process. Jones later characterized his interaction with Sanders as more of a conversation with someone he had a personal relationship with rather than a formal job interview.

"Just a conversation about the team, and about where he is, and his boys, conversation with his boys, that type of conversation," Jones said. "I've said I've talked to a lot of coaches, and Deion has a job."

Smith said passing over Sanders left him feeling disappointed. "It is kind of disappointing that, from an opportunity standpoint, he wasn't considered high enough to do it," he said. "But like I said, some things have to play themselves out."

Michael Irvin, who won three Super Bowls during his storied career with the Cowboys, has also expressed his displeasure with Jones deciding not to move forward with Sanders as the team's coach.

The Cowboys finished the 2024 season with a 7-10 record. Quarterback Dak Prescott missed nine games due to a hamstring injury.

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