Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy to return next season: What saved his job? (2024)

By Dianna Russini, Jeff Howe, Jon Machota, Saad Yousuf and Lauren Merola

The Dallas Cowboys are retaining coach Mike McCarthy, the team announced Wednesday.

“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach. There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively,” Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said in a statement.

Statement from Owner and GM Jerry Jones on retaining HC Mike McCarthy:

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) January 18, 2024

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The news of McCarthy’s return follows the Cowboys’ 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round Sunday at their home AT&T Stadium. Against Dallas, the Packers became the first No. 7 seed ever to win a playoff game, in the stadium Dallas was riding a 16-game home winning streak in, nonetheless.

After the game, Jones said multiple times that he was “floored,” adding that the upset was “beyond my comprehension.” Jones wants to end the Cowboys’ 28-year Super Bowl drought, and yet another promising regular season ended in playoff disappointment.

He also addressed the loss in his statement regarding McCarthy’s return.

“Our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy. Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results,” Jones said. “The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we’re all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals.”

McCarthy and the Cowboys have maintained a 12-5 regular-season record the past three years, losing in the divisional round in the 2022 playoffs and the wild-card round in 2021.

McCarthy was hired by the Cowboys after previously leading the Packers from 2006 to 2018, when Green Bay fired him. With the Packers, McCarthy found ample postseason success, making nine playoff appearances, including eight straight from 2009 to 2016, and winning a Super Bowl in 2011 at AT&T Stadium.

McCarthy hasn’t reached that summit in Dallas, but will have at least one more season to try. His contract expires after the 2024-25 season.

Jones appointed McCarthy as head coach on Jan. 7, 2020 to replace Jason Garrett, who was with Dallas in multiple capacities for 20 years and fired after an 8-8 season in 2019.

Dak Prescott might’ve saved McCarthy’s job

There are many strings attached to the Cowboys’ decision to bring McCarthy back for the final year of his contract, none stronger than the one tying McCarthy to Dak Prescott and the success the Cowboys’ quarterback had this season. Prescott became the first Cowboys quarterback to lead the NFL in touchdown passes when he led the NFL this season with 36. This was McCarthy’s first season taking over playcalling duties after Kellen Moore held that job for McCarthy’s first three years as head coach in Dallas.

Prescott has routinely spoken highly of McCarthy, not only from a personal impact and progression standout but from the overall structure of the offense. Prescott has pointed to things in preparation under McCarthy that he believes were significant steps forward, such as the entire offense being on the same page collectively instead of each position working in isolation. When the franchise quarterback, who will sign a contract extension soon, signs off on a guy like that, it would take an overwhelmingly obvious reason for Jones to cut ties. As Jones battles reckoning the three 12-win seasons with constant postseason shortcomings, the Prescott factor could serve as a tiebreaker. — Saad Yousuf, Cowboys beat writer

How can Jerry Jones sell this decision to fans?

My immediate thought is I’m not sure how Jones will sell this decision to the Cowboys fan base. He’s the ultimate salesman, but even he is going to have a difficult time with this one. Their frustration is at an all-time high following what might be the worst playoff loss in franchise history. Fans were expecting major changes after that type of collapse. That’s not happening now. The biggest change could come in the form of a new defensive coordinator if Dan Quinn gets one of the head coaching jobs he has been interviewing for. But just going with a new DC will not be enough for most fans to care very much for the next year.

The only way the Cowboys can prove that anything has changed is with a deep playoff run. The offense can look great. The defense can be improved. The Cowboys could win 15 games and get the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Most won’t believe it’s anything but the same as the last 28 years until at least 365 days from now. — Jon Machota, Cowboys beat writer

Required reading

• Evaluating Cowboys’ offense is simple: Start with Mike McCarthy-Dak Prescott dynamic
• Why that Thursday meeting is so important for Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, Mike McCarthy

(Photo: Kara Durrette / Getty Images)