DeMeco Ryans looks like he could play an NFL game today, and he was so young when the Houston Texans named him their head coach that a well meaning journalist could easily confuse when he actually retired from the league as a player.
At least that’s what I will tell myself for the rest of my days after I committed the idiotic faux pas when I recently asked Ryans the following, “You played at Alabama, and everyone who played for Coach (Nick) Saban has a Nick Saban story; give me your best Nick Saban story, please?”
“I actually didn’t play for Coach Saban,” Ryans said. “I played for Coach (Mike) Shula.”
Bar tender, I’ll order a Lazy Idiot please — and let’s make that a double.
That’s so bad. Awful. Ryans’ career at ‘Bama ended in 2005; Saban’s first season at Bama was 2007. Kids, do your homework.
With no shovel available to dig a hole, I profusely apologized to the coach and could only own the depths of my stupidity. Ryans was gracious and understanding to a mistake that I cannot not blame on youth, inexperience or prescription medication.
There are certain places, and times, when blaming youth and inexperience fits. An NFL head coach, no matter the age, is not going to get a pass because he’s new at the job.
This applies to Ryan, who was 38 years old when the Texans named him their head coach in January of 2023.
It applies to Brian Schottenheimer, who is 51; at 51, Schottenheimer is not a young NFL head coach. The average age of the NFL head coach in 2025 is 48, the lowest it’s been in 25 years.
But at 51, Schottenheimer is a head coach for the first time in his life.
“The landscape of coaching is changing, where a lot more younger coaches are getting opportunities to coach, because I think it’s about that connection,” Ryans said in an interview before he was formally inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame last month at AT&T Stadium.
Brian Schottenheimer’s ‘culture shock’
Since Schottenheimer was named the new head coach of the Cowboys in January, much has been said and written about his ability to “connect” with the players in an effort to build a “culture” he seeks.
He put a ping-pong table in the middle of the Cowboys locker room at The Star in Frisco. These sorts of toys are not uncommon in pro sports locker rooms; the Texas Rangers had one for several years until someone in management had it removed because they didn’t think a playing a game is serious enough for a profession that is ultimately a game.
Schottenheimer recently had the team’s quarterbacks, with their families, partake in a lesson where they learned Greek line dancing.
Over the weekend, a video of defensive end Micah Parsons calling Schottenheimer to “say goodnight” went viral on social media. The head coach wasn’t thrilled that the video was leaked by the player himself on his TikTok account, but at least it shows Schottenheimer has a relationship with his most talented player, who is currently in a contract holdout of sorts.
Former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett was a fan of these sorts of things; from taking the team to the beach in California, or having them tour the The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. the day after a game against the Commanders, Garrett appreciated the team building exercises usually more associated with high school or college.
These are well meaning, but keep your expectations modest about their correlation to production, and winning. We aren’t even in training camp, so about 101 percent of this means about 00.01 percent.
Will Schottenheimer’s changes make a difference?
The Cowboys won’t know if any of these “connections” and “culture” mean a thing until the first losses of the regular season. Can Schottenheimer keep the team when it all goes to hell?
When receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens aren’t happy that the quarterback won’t throw them the ball because they’re “wide” open.
When the injury report is 3 miles long, the team has to go into New York for a night game, and the goal is survival.
When family and friends of the players listen to the media — be it a member of NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew or a podcaster out of Arlington — who point out the team’s flaws, and besiege them with that hot air?
In Ryans’ first two seasons in Houston, he has been commended for the job he’s done despite his relative inexperience. The Texans are 20-14 in his two years in Houston, with playoff wins in each season.
“It’s not the old school way; a coach just yelling, barking at guys, telling guys what to do. Because I sense you have to be able to explain ‘Why?” Ryans said. “You have to be able to connect the guys, or really show them that you’re there for them.
“You care, you understand, and that’s why you motivate the guys now. So I think you’ll start to see even a bigger train of younger coaches getting in these head-coaching roles.”
Brian Schottenheimer is not a young NFL head coach, but he is still a first-time head coach.
He will soon learn, if he doesn’t already know it, that there are places, and times, when blaming inexperience applies. NFL head coach is not one of those places.