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OXNARD, Calif. -- The Dallas Cowboys broke training camp on Thursday. How Coach Brian Schottenheimer conducted business compared with his predecessor, Mike McCarthy, was vastly different.
There were more team drills under Schottenheimer, with music playing throughout the practice. Energy, energy and more energy was pushed, from Schottenheimer to the entire coaching staff. Assistant coaches shook players' hands during stretching exercises, regardless of position group.
The entire team ran over football bags before every practice to set the tone for the high-energy and up-tempo sessions.
The famed seven-on-seven, nine-on-seven and one-on-one drills were not seen early in camp. Instead, those drills were moved to the back end.
During McCarthy's tenure, veteran players would get a day off from time to time. Vets worked during Schottenheimer's first season.
Schottenheimer didn't hire an assistant head coach, a position McCarthy used during his term with the Cowboys.
And here's a big one. McCarthy had to deal with two contract holdouts from CeeDee Lamb and Zack Martin. Schottenheimer didn't have a holdout with Micah Parsons, instead he asked Parsons to attend the first voluntary offseason workout, which he did. And while Parsons held in during camp as he awaits a contract extension, he followed Schottenheimer's requirement to wear team-issued gear, meaning a jersey.
This isn't to say McCarthy's way was ineffective; the man did lead the Cowboys to three 12 win seasons. What Schottenheimer is doing is different because this is how he believes a team should be formed. McCarthy believed building a team for the stretch run was the best way to go about things.
It worked. In his career, McCarthy's teams went 50-23 in December, the most wins in any month as a head coach. With the Cowboys, McCarthy's group went 14-6 in December, which included a 10-1 mark from 2020 to 2022.
Schottenheimer wants to set the tone quickly and believes a well-conditioned team should be fine for the stretch run during the season.
"One of the biggest thing is the energy in practice and you continue to emphasize [the players] are competing every day," said tight end coach Lunda Wells, who worked for both coaches. "Whether or not you're competing to be the starter, whether or not you're competing to have a roster spot.
"Us as coaches, in my opinion, you got to compete every day. I'm trying to outcoach every coach on the field just so I have that mindset so my guys go out there and compete. So my guys can be in the best position to be successful individually and collectively as a team."
Seven-on-seven drills are a mainstay in football. There are seven-on-seven high school tournaments. They are used to help with the timing aspect of the passing game.
Schottenheimer used to be a believer, but he's not anymore.
"I'm not a big nine-on-seven guy, I'm not a big seven-on-seven guy," he said. "This is a team game man, if we're running the football CeeDee Lamb and George [Pickens] and those guys they have to go and take out safeties, that's the game. So when you do nine-on-seven, it's like half your guys aren't out there. I'm a big team period guy."
It also leads to more physical practices, which Schottenheimer wants. McCarthy was big on having physical practices as well. However, the Cowboys were fined twice by the NFL with McCarthy as head coach for too much contact in offseason drills.
Another interesting change is the lack of deep balls in one-on-one drills. Schottenheimer doesn't mind it, yet it's almost a waste because receivers and corners have to get back to the line of scrimmage and you have to set up for the next rep, whereas a team drill rep could have been conducted instead.
The Cowboys did attempt deep throws in practices, but the old one-on-one, man-on-man drills were limited early in camp.
"Throwing go balls and then coming back and throwing a post in routes on air, it's not smart," Schottenheimer said. "You just worry early on in camp about potential soft tissue things like that."
Schottenheimer has high standards not only for himself and his players, but the coaches as well. For the first time in recent memory, the Cowboys don't have an assistant head coach.
"I want to lean on all my coaches, No. 1," Schottenheimer said. "I obviously got an inner circle of people that I talk to a lot. I'm not real big on titles, I think titles should be earned and not given and this is Year 1.
"So, will we have an assistant head coach next year? Maybe, but I do think that sometimes, and we're all guilty of this, we've all done it, sometimes you use titles to get guys out of contracts. You try to. It doesn't usually work, my belief, titles if someone is named the assistant head coach, they should have earned that. They should truly be that."
Things are different with the Cowboys now, as they should be with a new coach. It doesn't mean success is guaranteed with the changes, but it's refreshing.