{"id":66319,"date":"2025-05-21T01:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T01:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/66319\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T01:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T01:19:12","slug":"with-energetic-start-brian-schottenheimer-sets-lofty-goal-for-dallas-cowboys-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/66319\/","title":{"rendered":"With energetic start, Brian Schottenheimer sets lofty goal for Dallas Cowboys\u2019 culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRISCO \u2014 Stephen Jones<\/a> said the new Cowboys coach is bringing \u201ca high energy level\u201d to The Star. <\/p>\n

Of course, it wasn\u2019t meant as a criticism to the man who held the job Brian Schottenheimer<\/a> has now.<\/p>\n

It was noted the Cowboys needed something different after five years of Mike McCarthy.<\/a><\/p>\n

So just what has Schottenheimer brought to the Cowboys this offseason? During the second day of organized team activities, the media got more information about the culture the head coach is trying to build.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe first couple of days we were doing some team building things, some culture,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve spoken very openly about trying to create one of the greatest cultures in professional sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:Why QB Dak Prescott\u2019s on-field presence is a welcome sight at Dallas Cowboys OTAs<\/a><\/p>\n

Schottenheimer is creating friendly competition among the players through other sporting activities. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a 10-foot basketball goal set up in the player lounge and a Nerf basketball goal hung on top of a door in Schottenheimer\u2019s office. Players competed in a golf putting contest and there\u2019s the big one: A pingpong table was moved from the player lounge to the locker room.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, a couple of players were taking part in a match.<\/p>\n

Schottenheimer will have dinners with individual players to get to know them as people first then as football players. <\/p>\n

He makes sure players support each other in charity events or football camps. <\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a trusted veteran such as Osa Odighizuwa<\/a>, who held a charity event, or backup linebacker Buddy Johnson (Kimball) with his football camp, players and coaches show up. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to support one another, we\u2019re a family,\u201d the head coach said. \u201cWhen people have something like a foundation dinner event, they have a football camp, if it\u2019s important to them, then the objective and the goal should be to have as many of your family members there as possible. Of course, I\u2019m speaking about our teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the reasons why Schottenheimer asked defensive end Micah Parsons to attend the offseason workouts when they opened last month. <\/p>\n

In the past, Parsons has been an infrequent visitor to these sessions and it\u2019s noticeable when his leadership was questioned from critics, which included former teammate DeMarcus Lawrence.<\/p>\n

Parsons didn\u2019t attend Tuesday\u2019s OTA sessions, but Schottenheimer said he worked out with the team on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicah is going to be a leader for us,\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cMicah wants to be a leader for us, he\u2019s going to do that. I felt like it was really important for him to be here and to begin that process. Again, it\u2019s a voluntary camp, the fact that he did that, means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowboys players are responding to the energy Schottenheimer is bringing. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing a helluva job,\u201d quarterback Dak Prescott<\/a> said. \u201cGreat job in building the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Prescott spoke with reporters outside the locker room, Schottenheimer was standing next to the weight room greeting players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean look at him right there, seeing him and dapping off guys. That\u2019s him,\u201d Prescott said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see him around the weight room, the field, the locker room, preaching about competing every day but not only that we\u2019re doing them in team meetings, competing at practice and that\u2019s the part about today\u2019s practice, right, is that fine line of competing but doing it smart and being disciplined about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DallasDallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer shakes hands with defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa (97) during the team’s OTA practice at The Star in Frisco, May 20, 2025. (Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not only Prescott who appreciates the energy. Newcomers like receiver George Pickens<\/a> and cornerback Kaiir Elam<\/a>, acquired in trades this offseason, like what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I thought was never possible,\u201d Elam said. \u201cI thought coaches [are] up here and players down here and we follow their rule. [The Cowboys\u2019 coaches] make it to where it\u2019s more of a relationship. That\u2019s something I\u2019m excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickens was a combustible force with opponents and the media when he played in Pittsburgh.<\/a> He\u2019s getting a fresh start in Dallas with Schottenheimer saying the receiver is maturing. On Pickens\u2019 first day at The Star, he played Schottenheimer in a free throw shooting contest, beating the head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the next day, he literally brought me up to the [office] to shoot basketball,\u201d Pickens said. \u201cAnd then he beat me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:Dak Prescott recalls exciting moment he learned of Dallas Cowboys\u2019 George Pickens trade<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to hear positive vibes from The Star, but you could say that happens every time a new head coach is hired. <\/p>\n

The bottom line is wins and losses, and if this Cowboys team can\u2019t make a deep playoff run, team chemistry won\u2019t get mentioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that Schotty\u2019s doing it the right way,\u201d Prescott said. \u201cFrom the top down of take the offense and defense away from it, take the positions away from it, take the coach and player aspect away from it and let\u2019s connect. And you\u2019re talking to one of the most optimistic people I think you\u2019ll find. I\u2019ve seen it the way that it\u2019s going, I see the way people are buying into it and it\u2019s hard for me to think anything different.\u201d<\/p>\n

X: @calvinwatkins<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos: Football time in North Texas! Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys take the field for OTAs at The Star in Frisco<\/p>\n

\"DallasView Gallery<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRISCO \u2014 Stephen Jones said the new Cowboys coach is bringing \u201ca high energy level\u201d to The Star.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2066],"tags":[1101,2886,1121,230,1370,229,257,2461,7,467,491,6,9,20584],"class_list":{"0":"post-66319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-brian-schottenheimer","10":"tag-ceedee-lamb","11":"tag-cowboys","12":"tag-dak-prescott","13":"tag-dallas","14":"tag-dallas-cowboys","15":"tag-dallascowboys","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-george-pickens","18":"tag-micah-parsons","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-the-star-in-frisco"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114543196290514669","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}