The Dallas Cowboys have unexpectedly joined the list of NFL teams that are in need of a new head coach, and you have to wonder if one Super Bowl champion is wishing the job opened up sooner.
Mike McCarthy will not return as the head coach of the Cowboys next season, the team announced on Monday. McCarthy’s contract was set to expire, and Jerry Jones says the two sides mutually agreed to part ways prior to beginning real discussions about an extension.
After Dallas was blown out at home in the first round of the playoffs last year, there was speculation that McCarthy might be fired. Many people thought Bill Belichick would be a legitimate candidate for the job if that happened. Jones even fueled the speculation with an interesting response to a question about Belichick.
The Cowboys instead chose to bring McCarthy back this season on his expiring contract. Still, many oddsmakers thought there was a great chance Belichick would wind up coaching in Dallas in 2025.
Belichick then chose to take a job as the head coach at North Carolina last month. The belief at the time was that the Cowboys were going to bring McCarthy back. According to Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports, there would have been mutual interest between Belichick and the Cowboys if it were known that McCarthy was not returning.
FWIW: Bill Belichick would have been interested in the Cowboys' job, and it's believed that Dallas would have been interested in him, had he known the position would become available. Belichick and his camp never received any indication during backchannel conversations that the… pic.twitter.com/xIqaGdwFPq
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 13, 2025
That tidbit will undoubtedly lead to another round of rumors. Belichick has a reasonable buyout at UNC, and there have already been reports that NFL teams have tried to convince him to bail after only a few weeks on the job in Chapel Hill. UNC officials are even said to be concerned about the possibility.
Belichick appears fully committed to the new chapter of his career, but that might not stop Jones from making a call.
