Dallas Cowboys head coaches have had all sorts of first seasons across franchise history.

Brian Schottenheimer, the Cowboys’ rookie head coach, is the tenth in franchise history. Like each one before him, Schottenheimer’s run starts with a unique set of circumstances. How challenging is 2025 for him compared to 1960, 1989, and other points when a newly hired coach began his time in the big chair?

It’s rare for a new head coach to inherit a good situation. Generally, it takes a bad one for the last guy to get fired or want to quit. But there are exceptions to that, and the Cowboys have had more than one instance where a coach left for reasons other than disappointing performance.

In terms of how challenging certain seasons were over others, some obstacles don’t come until the games start. Poor ol’ Dave Campo lost QB Troy Aikman and WR Joey Galloway to injuries in the first week of his inaugural season. For today’s exercise, we’re focusing more on the overall strength of the team going into the year and obstacles that were well-known before September.

From the best situations to the worst, here’s a ranking of the ten years when Dallas debuted a new head coach.

1. 1994 – Barry Switzer

Was there any doubt which one would top the list? Switzer inherited a ready-made champion after Jimmy Johnson’s abrupt exit, fresh off two-straight Super Bowl wins. To his credit, Switzer did enough to help make it a dynasty with an NFC Championship Game appearance in his first year and then the third championship in 1995. While it quickly fell apart from there, leading to Switzer’s resignation after 1997, the team was so good that it may not have mattered who the head coach was those first few years after Johnson. Indeed, Switzer may have walked into the best situation in NFL history, not just this franchise.

2. 2007 – Wade Phillips

While he didn’t inherit a proven winner like Switzer did, Wade Phillips benefited from Bill Parcells’ work of restoring Dallas from a laughing stock to a playoff contender. That 2007 team was arguably the best of the decade, with Tony Romo, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware, and many others beginning their primes and Terrell Owens still playing at a very high level. The results were immediate with a 13-3 season and Dallas’ first division crown and playoff win in about a decade. The political divide with then-offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was sabotaging, especially given Phillips’ softer demeanor, but only Switzer took over a more talented, win-ready team.

Phillips and Switzer made an easy top two for this list. They’re the only coaches who took over when Dallas was either riding high or on the rise. The rest dealt with more immediate adversity, and the debate gets interesting when balancing what they had to work with the expectations they were up against.

3. 1998 – Chan Gailey

Even as the 90s dynasty was crumbling, the pieces were still good enough to make the playoffs in each of Gailey’s two seasons and win the NFC East in his first. Troy Aikman missed five games in 1998, but Dallas still finished 10-6 with solid work from backup Jason Garrett. Even this lesser version of the 90s team was still loaded with star talent and future Hall of Famers. While Gailey’s long-term prospects weren’t great given the rapid decline, we’re focusing on the first year in this list and that wasn’t too shabby.

4. 2011 – Jason Garrett

Garrett technically became head coach in the middle of the 2010 season, but we’ll focus on his first full year after dropping the interim title. He took over when the offensive line was in shambles and the defense wasn’t far behind, but still had some key pieces like Romo, Witten, Ware, and an emerging star in Dez Bryant. Most importantly, Garrett enjoyed more rope from the front office than any other coach in the Jerry Jones era. He was family, the son of a longtime Dallas scout and a former Cowboys player himself. While Garrett had arguably more roster challenges to overcome than some of the next few names on the list, his relationship with the owner offered an incomparable cushion.

5. 2025 – Brian Schottenheimer

The toughest part of this exercise is projecting where Schotty’s first year falls, given how much there’s still to know. The power of hindsight certainly helps with the other nine. But if we look at a roster with one of the NFL’s most impactful defensive players, an elite WR, a veteran QB, a potentially resurrected offensive line, the best kicker and return man in the business, and plenty of strong talents across the board, there’s a lot to like. And now, after the George Pickens trade, Dallas’ perceived talent is so strong that many are projecting them to be right back in both divisional and conference contention. He likely won’t enjoy the same loyalty that Garrett had from the Jones family, but hopefully, he won’t need it.

6. 2020 – Mike McCarthy

Choosing between McCarthy, Garrett, and Schottenheimer felt like splitting hairs. All have come in when the team was just a year removed from a playoff appearance. But McCarthy gets some extra consideration for one huge factor that impacted his first season, the COVID-19 pandemic. Having to start his tenure with Zoom meetings and conversations about vaccination was hardly fair. Sabotaging his defense with Mike Nolan was a self-inflicted wound, but McCarthy was certainly up against it with the issues outside of his control.

7. 1989 – Jimmy Johnson

Nearly 30 years after Landry’s start, there was little distinguishing the downtrodden Cowboys from an expansion team. A new era began with Jerry Jones’ purchase of the franchise and his choice of Jimmy Johnson as head coach. Johnson did inherit a few key players like WR Michael Irvin, G Nate Newton, and DE Jim Jeffcoat from the Landry era. But perhaps none was more important than RB Herschel Walker, who was the centerpiece of a trade that gave Dallas the resources to build their ’90s juggernaut. The challenge of the working relationship between Johnson and Jones didn’t manifest until success and egos caused problems later. At the start, they were two friends doing great work together.

8. 1960 – Tom Landry

You could make the case that no coach started with less than Landry, the Cowboys’ first head coach when they were formed as an expansion team. The results certainly back that up; a winless first year and only 4-5 wins over the next four seasons. But again, we’re looking at both the state of the team and the expectations. Landry was shown a lot of loyalty by then-owner Clint Murchison and general manager Tex Schramm. He wasn’t expected to win right away, even getting a 10-year extension before the Cowboys began winning. Landry and Schramm eventually gave us America’s Team, in no small part due to the trust that the front office had in Landry from the beginning.

9. 2003 – Bill Parcells

Arguably, no coach took over at a lower point in franchise history than Parcells. While things were rough in 1989, at least there was excitement about the changes under new ownership and some pieces in place for a future champion. Parcells started with a similarly weak roster, the additional negativity swirling around Jerry Jones’ management of the team, and the low morale after the end of the dynasty and terrible years under Dave Campo. The cupboard wasn’t bare; La’Roi Glover, Greg Ellis, Flozell Adams, Andre Gurode, Dexter Coakley, Dat Nguyen, and Roy Williams would be key holdovers as Parcells got the team back on track. You also had some leftover legends like Larry Allen and Darren Woodson on their last legs. But with headcases like Quincy Carter and Antonio Bryant to deal with, it’s still amazing that Parcells got that team to 10-6 in his first season.

10. 2000 – Dave Campo

Again, poor ol’ Campo. Promoted from within following the firing of Chan Gailey, Campo was immediately tagged as a puppet for the meddlesome owner. There was so much anger and frustration around the team at this point, both from declining performance and the tragic end to Michael Irvin’s career the previous season. That led to the trade for Joey Galloway, costing Dallas their first-round picks in 2000 and 2001, which has gone down as one of the franchise’s all-time blunders. Campo was stuck with the decaying remnants of the 90s dynasty, including Troy Aikman’s back, and a front office that was making desperate, ill-advised moves to get back into contention. No Cowboys coach was set up for failure more than Campo, and none is remembered less fondly.