Cowboys Make Fifth Coaching Change, Hire Steve Shimko As Offensive Assistant

The Dallas Cowboys hired Steve Shimko as an offensive assistant, marking their fifth assistant hire this off-season. Shimko will replace Will Harriger, who recently accepted the quarterbacks coach position for the Carolina Panthers.

Shimko has spent the last four seasons at Boston College and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2023. Before that, he was an offensive assistant for the Seattle Seahawks under Brian Schottenheimer, the Cowboys’ current offensive coordinator.

The 34-year-old coach, who also played as a quarterback at Rutgers between 2008 and 2010, is the first assistant Dallas has hired on offense. The team has been overhauling its defensive staff, however, as coordinator Dan Quinn has departed to become the Commanders’ head coach. Mike Zimmer has stepped into his role and three additional assistants have been hired. It is a drastic response, though it did not extend as far as some expected.

The Cowboys organization was initially criticized for standing by head coach Mike McCarthy following a shocking 48-32 loss to the Packers in the Wild Card round. But while owner Jerry Jones is keeping upper management in place, the Dallas staff under McCarthy will look vastly different in 2024.

Since 2021, McCarthy has led the Cowboys to three straight 12-win seasons but the team has not made it out of the divisional round, prolonging a drought dating back to 1996. Jones originally seemed to imply multiple times that he would consider a head coaching change in 2023, but eventually cited McCarthy’s regular season record as a reason to keep him on staff.

“Mike (McCarthy) has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals,” Jones said. “Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.”