Dallas Cowboys to part ways with head coach Mike McCarthy after 2024 slump
Mike McCarthy will reportedly not return as coach of the Dallas Cowboys, who won their last Super Bowl title almost thirty years ago.
A source told the Associated Press about McCarthy’s departure. A decision has yet to be made. The source said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and McCarthy have agreed to part ways.
The coach’s contract expired after a 7-10 season. Dallas was 12-5 in each of the previous three years, but still hasn’t advanced past the divisional round of the NFC playoffs since their last Super Bowl at the end of the 1995 season.
McCarthy’s contract expired on January 8 and the Cowboys have an exclusive negotiating period through Tuesday, but the sides decided to part ways before the deadline. At least one other NFL team at the time requested an interview with the 61-year-old coach, who won a Super Bowl with Green Bay.
Before taking the Dallas job after a full season out of coaching, McCarthy spent 13 seasons with the Packers and had a 125-77-2 record from 2006 to 2018. He was 10-8 in the playoffs and led Green Bay to a Super Bowl title 14 years ago at AT&T Stadium, home of the Cowboys.
There were also three other NFC championship games for McCarthy in Green Bay, which is what Jones envisioned — and more — when he hired the coach in 2020.
McCarthy finished with a 50-38 record in Dallas, including a 1-3 mark in the playoffs. That includes last season, when the Cowboys were NFC East champions and had won 16 straight home games before trailing by 32 points in the fourth quarter after a 48-32 wild-card loss to the seventh-seeded Packers.
Dallas played the last nine games this season without franchise quarterback Dak Prescott due to a torn hamstring. Top receiver CeeDee Lamb, seven-time Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin, cornerback Trevon Diggs and pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence also finished the season on injured reserve.
Only 12 NFL coaches have had more regular season wins than McCarthy’s 174, which is still far behind Don Shula’s record of 328. The only active coaches with more wins than McCarthy are Andy Reid (302 wins over 29 seasons) and Mike Tomlin (183 wins). in 18 seasons).