Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer changing the culture, creating camaraderie in locker room

FRISCO, Texas -- What does free throw shooting have to do with the Dallas Cowboys preparing for the 2025 NFL season? Both nothing and everything.    

New Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer seeks to instill a familial culture in Dallas centered around both supporting and competing with one another at nearly all times to maintain an energetic, almost collegial feel. A 10-foot hoop in the Cowboys' player lounge and a mini hoop in Schottenheimer's office are just two of the many arenas around The Star, Dallas' team headquarters. Schottenheimer welcomed new wide receiver George Pickens to the team by having a free throw shooting contest with the 24-year-old. Pickens won the first one, but the head coach got him back the next day. 

"Anywhere and everywhere," Schottenheimer said Tuesday at Dallas' second organized team activity practice when asked about his free throw challenges. "We do some things in the team room. We do some things in my office. QBs, I just lost to the QBs in my office. Actually, Dak was my teammate, so I guess Dak lost too. He'll be mad I told you guys that. … The central theme of the program is compete every day so we find different ways to do it."

With the Dallas Stars, the local NHL team, in the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, hockey is becoming a featured competition with hockey sticks and a soft puck. Putting contests also came to the forefront when The Masters was underway at the beginning of April. 

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The Cowboys having a ping pong table wasn't new, but it's now in a new location in the Schottenheimer administration: the locker room. His reasoning is because he wants to cultivate an environment in which all of the players are hanging around each other more often to heighten Dallas' sense of camaraderie. The social media rift between former Cowboys Pro Bowl edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence and All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons upon Lawrence's Dallas departure for the Seattle Seahawks illustrated a divide that existed between the team's old guard and new guard. Schottenheimer encouraging these smaller scale competitive activities may not mean much in the short term, but they could make a difference over the long term when the going gets tough in the upcoming season. 

"We just moved it in there because I want this place, I want our players to want to be here," Schottenheimer said. "I want our players to come in the locker room and for us to have to kick them out .... It's fun to watch the interaction with the offense and the defense and watch the shit-talking that goes on. ... It's fun to watch those guys step into that arena and compete at things that maybe the world doesn't know they're good at. That's one of the cool things that Micah [Parsons] does. He thinks he's the best ping pong player in the building, and there's a handful of guys that would disagree with that."

Schottenheimer's relationship-building efforts as a first-time head coach extend beyond the team facility's walls as well. He'll take groups of players out to dinner and then spend the whole night talking about life, not football. Oh, and the head coach also foots the bill. 

"I can't tell you exactly where we'll be. I do always pay. So that's cool. We do change the menu up a little bit. We try to get four or five or six guys together and just go talk about life," Schottenheimer said of his player dinners outside of The Star. "Football rarely comes up. We do football all day long. What I want to know is why [running back] Javonte [Williams] named his dog what he named his dog. And where does this story come from and all those things. ... Those are the things I love talking about. For them to share their stories with their teammates allows them when they're out there on the field and they're having a tough day and it's hot and they're pushing through a padded practice in Oxnard, they're able to truly pull together and work together and I think that's going to help us finish games, finish practices. When you have a tough moment, you have a tough stretch in the season, you work through those problems because they believe in one another and more importantly they love one another."

The current stage of Dallas' and the rest of the league's offseason program is the organized team activities stage. Participation is voluntary, per the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, but that's why Schottenheimer is going the extra mile for his players with the games and the dinners now: to begin building buy-in ASAP. Parsons is in the midst of a contract dispute, but he did show up to the first practice of OTAs on Monday where the two of them had lunch. Schottenheimer's attendance at Parsons' "Pins for a Purpose" philanthropy event was a key factor in the All-Pro deciding to still intermittently attend the voluntary portion of the offseason program.  He's also gone out of his way to do so for defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith. This commitment extends to non-starters as well: Schottenheimer also showed up for backup linebacker Buddy Johnson's youth football camp. 

"Micah is going to be a leader for us. Micah wants to be a leader for us, he's going to do that. I felt like it was really important for him to be here and to begin that process. Again, it's a voluntary camp, the fact that he did that, means a lot to me," Schottenheimer said. "We've been really spending a lot of time this offseason, trying to support one another, not just me and Micah but going to different events and functions and foundation dinners. ... It's our job to support all of these guys. Again, take Micah's name out of it. It doesn't matter. Insert name. I'm going to support them and talk to them and, 'Hey, what do you need from me? What can I be doing for you? Hey, I'd love to have you here for this. If you can't be here, I get it. It's all voluntary.' I think people do well with very clear, bright lines. If I'm calling a player and begging to him to come, but yet I don't take the time to go and support him at a foundation event or go take him to dinner, then do I really have what's in their best interest? If our players ever say I don't have their best interest, then I'm not doing my job, and I'm not being authentic to myself."

Schottenheimer's accountability extends beyond himself and down to his entire staff, something quarterback Dak Prescott appreciated when the head coach called out his assistants for not having enough energy on Monday. That was the first OTA practice this spring. 

"Energy. 100%. A lot of it. As you said, it's starting from Schotty and down to the coaches," Prescott said of Schottenheimer's culture on Tuesday. "Did a hell of a job of calling out the coaches in that instance yesterday and making sure that they're accountable to that and just to hear their response and not only their response, the way that they approached practice and the way they administered some energy and brought it themselves and made sure their players in each position group had it. Collectively, you felt it out there in practice yesterday and obviously today as well."

The relationship-building Schottenheimer's done so far is getting buy-in from some of his top players like wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. Sure, none of this chemistry stuff matters if the Cowboys don't go on a playoff run, but an early connection has been established between the new coaching staff and the players. That's an early, unofficial win. 

"Just relationships go a long way. Building trust within each other and having that open conversation, open dialogue about anything, so when things go on during the season, it's pretty easy, we've already built that bond in the offseason," the 2023 first-team All-Pro wide receiver said of Schottenheimer's efforts to connect with players. "We've had plenty of talks, so if he [Schottenheimer] has a question about where do I see you or how they're guarding GP [George Pickens], things that they can't see that I can see, I'm open to telling them, so it's a great start."