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Former Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin believes Jerry Jones made a mistake by not hiring Deion Sanders as the team’s next head coach.
The Cowboys announced Friday that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer would replace former head coach Mike McCarthy.
“Here’s my issue: We lost an opportunity here,” Irvin said Saturday on his YouTube channel (2:50 mark of the video above.) “I don’t know what will happen with Coach Schottenheimer and the Dallas Cowboys, but Jerry’s a shrewd, shrewd businessman, and this opportunity, I’m shocked he did not see.
“I was pushing for Deion Sanders to be the next head coach, and I still stand ten toes down on that push.”
Sanders led Colorado to a 9-4 record this fall, two years after taking over the program following a 1-11 run in 2022.
Now that his sons Shedeur and Shilo Sanders are leaving the program this spring, Sanders has said he would consider taking a job in the NFL next season.
Schottenheimer first joined the Cowboys in 2022 as a consultant alongside former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
He was promoted to offensive coordinator after Kellen Moore was fired following the 2022 season.
Irvin was unimpressed with the Cowboys’ decision to hire someone who had both been with the team for two seasons without a playoff win, and had never had head coaching experience at any level.
Sanders, who has never coached in the NFL, has six seasons of experience in college coaching at Jackson State and Colorado.
“You’re bringing in someone that was already inside as the head coach. You lose things there, that you can’t grab back,” Irvin said.
Irvin continued: “They don’t have curfew. They don’t have discipline. They were fourth in penalties issued. So, how do you fix that? You go an be more disciplined, or be more of a disciplinarian. How do you do that when you’re coming from the inside?”
Irvin later summed up the issue with the question: “How do you do the same damn thing and get something different?”
“That’s why hiring Deion was the right call,” Irvin concluded. “The Raiders hired Pete Carroll, he had some experience. Last time, when we did Mike McCarthy, he had some experience. I got to slap myself, and say, ‘Give it a chance, man, at least they walked the walk already.’
“Brian hadn’t walked no walk. So what does he got over Deion?”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the day before Schottenheimer’s hiring (h/t On3’s Dan Morrison) that the talks about Sanders had “quieted,” but that Jones “knows Deion Sanders is always there.”
Jones instead decided to promote from within, a decision that especially frustrated Irvin given that two of the Cowboys’ NFC East rivals— the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders— are currently one win away from playing in the Super Bowl.
So are the Kansas City Chiefs. Irvin said the Cowboys are at risk of losing the nickname America’s Team to the Chiefs.
That is especially a risk given the support the Chiefs have received from Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark, Irvin said, before noting that he is a fan of both.
“A third of Cowboys nation has never felt or lived the glory of a championship story. Don’t even know about it… a generation that knows nothing about a championship from the so-called America’s Team,” Irvin said. “And worse yet, that generation has seen total domination from a team named the Kansas City Chiefs.
“So, not only are you losing football games over here, and opportunities over here, even divisions over here, you’re about to get our moniker snatched off our backs.”
The Cowboys have been eliminated from playoff contention from over a month. The team will now wait to see if the Schottenheimer hiring is enough to help them compete with the Eagles and Commanders next season.