Updated Jan. 24, 2026, 9:27 p.m. CT

It’s been a long time since the Dallas Cowboys were able to brag about being a petri dish for future NFL head coaches. With the hiring of Klayton Adams as OC last year, and Christian Parker this past week for the DC role, fans feel like the pipeline may be reestablishing. A few years ago, Dan Quinn went from defensive coordinator back to head coach, signing on to lead the Washington Commanders.

Quinn worked in Dallas for three years under head coach Mike McCarthy, brought on after being fired as the head coach in Atlanta. A year after Quinn left on his own accord, the Cowboys moved on from McCarthy, which lead to the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer andAdams and Parker as his top assistants. And after just one year away from the game, McCarthy is back in the driver’s seat, this time in the AFC.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have announced that McCarthy is the replacement at head coach for Mike Tomlin, who walked away from the job after 19 years.

McCarthy is a Western Pennsylvania native, so he’s getting a chance to return home. Over his five-year stint in Dallas, he accrued a 49-35 regular season record. That’s the third-most regular season wins for a coach in Cowboys history. He of course spent 13 years in Green Bay, from 2006 through 2018, winning a Super Bowl and securing a .618 winning percentage.

McCarthy started off in Dallas on rough ground, having to manage the team through the 2020 COVID-19 season and losing QB Dak Prescott after just five games. His final season in Dallas, 2024, also saw an injured Prescott play for less than half of the season. In between, he led Dallas to a three-year run with 12 regular season wins each, but not the postseason success he was hired to provide.

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Now, he’ll take over the Steelers who have to figure out their QB position after an aging Aaron Rodgers led them to the playoffs in 2025. Rodgers was the QB McCarthy went to and won the Super Bowl with, but with his track record of flirting with retirement for the greater part of the last decade, no one knows what is next at the position for Pittsburgh.

It will be interesting to see whether McCarthy’s hire influences Rodgers’ decision.