For most of the 2024 season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Dallas Cowboys would have a new head coach in 2024. However, that may not be the case, according to the franchise’s Hall of Fame quarterback, Troy Aikman.
Aikman, who led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s, said before Monday night’s game against the Bengals that he expects Mike McCarthy to remain the team’s head coach in 2025. McCarthy, whose current contract is set to expire this offseason, has led the Cowboys to consecutive wins after a 3-7 start.
“Except for Bill Belichick, I don’t know who they’re going to bring in that has a better resume,” Aikman said, via The Athletic. “I just feel like for a team that I really don’t think is that far away… I like the way this team is playing right now, even without their franchise quarterback.
“I feel like it’s a team that really believes in Mike McCarthy. I feel like the locker room wants him back. I think he’s a very good football coach. I think Jerry Jones also thinks he’s a very good football coach… Like “If we stand up and talk right now, I hope Mike McCarthy comes back in 2025.”
Aikman’s comments about Cowboys players are in line with what Dak Prescott recently said about McCarthy, who before this season had led Dallas to three consecutive 12-win seasons.
“I’m going to push and be in the corner and push for Mike to get a second contract… and just the opportunity to do more things with a healthy team.” Prescott told CBS Sports. “I’m totally in favor of it. It’s been difficult and [I] “I feel helpless in the sense of not being able to help him in a year knowing how big this is, being able to go out and play well to get wins and even in the games we played, not being able to play as well or get wins, it was very frustrating.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently alluded to the possibility of rehiring McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl as the Packers’ head coach before coming to Dallas. Jones knows firsthand the challenges associated with changing coaches, and he surely doesn’t want to go down that path again unless he truly feels he has no other option.
“I don’t think it’s crazy at all.” Jones said.who has made eight coaching changes during his 35 years with the Cowboys. “This is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Mike McCarthy has been there and done that. He has great ideas. We have a lot of football left.”
To his credit, McCarthy has avoided publicly discussing his future. Instead, he stayed focused on keeping the Cowboys’ season alive. Despite a series of injuries (including one to Prescott that ended his season), the Cowboys are still mathematically alive in the NFC wild card race.
“We have to win. We deserve to win. We deserve the opportunity to win,” McCarthy said last month. “And that’s why I’m putting the best people out there, and right now they’re young… but we have to do whatever it takes to win.”
Aikman knows a good coach when he sees one. He won his first two Super Bowls with Jimmy Johnson, who led the Cowboys to the top just three years after Dallas finished 1-15. Aikman feels that McCarthy is of the same class and should remain Dallas’ head coach in the future.
