FRISCO, Texas -- On most Tuesdays during the offseason, Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer has spent dinnertime with different groups of players. Offense, defense, special teams.
By his count, he's up to about 40 players.
The purpose: to get to know his players beyond what they can do on the field and to foster relationships between those who spend most of their days with teammates in their position group or on their side of the ball.
"My wife will tell you this: I'm the first one, we'll go to dinner, and I'm always the one to ask a question and challenge the room about something," Schottenheimer said. "So it starts pretty quick when they sit down."
Schottenheimer is entering his second season as the Cowboys' head coach. His first season ended with a 7-9-1 record. It was marked by highs, such as beating the previous season's Super Bowl participants -- Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs -- in back-to-back weeks, and lows with a defense that finished last in the league in points allowed and led to a personnel revamp.
He also shepherded the team through the tragedy of Marshawn Kneeland's death.
There are no manuals to follow for a first-time head coach, but Schottenheimer earned praise from the front office, personnel department, assistant coaches and players in 2025.
As Year 2 begins, Schottenheimer knows there is a second-year jump he needs to make as coach, just as players often make their largest improvements from their rookie season to their next year.
"I mean, it's obviously going to start with more wins," Schottenheimer said. "Getting the culture to continue to grow. Like I said, I think one of the deals this year [is] the culture has been really fun to create because you've got a lot of new faces. We certainly weren't expecting as many changes on the defensive staff that we ended up making, but excited about the culture.
"But at the end of the day, it's going to come down to wins and losses. I feel much more comfortable in Year 2. I think I've got my hands around more of the things that I want to and I've also been able to really do an after-action report on myself and making little tweaks throughout. Just much more comfortable."
At this time last year, Schottenheimer spent most of his time with the offense. He had a first-time coordinator in Klayton Adams and a number of coaches who needed to learn what Schottenheimer wanted the offense to look like.
Looking back, he said he wishes he could have taken a more direct approach with the defense, led by then-coordinator Matt Eberflus. It wasn't until early in the regular season that he spent more time in the defensive meetings after things started poorly.
This spring, Schottenheimer has spent more time in the defensive meetings with new coordinator Christian Parker. During practices, Schottenheimer is more observant of what is happening with special teams, watching punt coverage drills intently to make sure the details are followed.
"Being really the head coach and in charge of all three phases and having a handle of that," Schottenheimer said of his broad view. "I think the personnel side of it has been good for me to dive back into the 3-4 [defense] world and then, shoot, practice schedules, meetings."
Players saw Schottenheimer's confidence last year although he had never done the job before. This offseason, they see even more of it.
"You know what the right word is? He feels more dangerous," tight end Jake Ferguson said. "I feel more of a dangerous sense from him, like he's in his bag, you could say. I don't want to say comfortable is the right thing because we're never comfortable here. We're comfortable being uncomfortable. You can see it [from him] and you can feel the energy. It's there."
For players such as Ferguson, quarterback Dak Prescott and guard Tyler Smith, they had more familiarity with Schottenheimer, who had been the offensive coordinator under coach Mike McCarthy from 2023 to 2024.
Schottenheimer was a consultant for the Cowboys in 2022, working with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, but for defensive players such as 2023 third-round linebacker DeMarvion Overshown, their familiarity with Schottenheimer has grown.
"It's no gray areas. It's black and white," Overshown said. "He seen what we lacked last year and he's not going to let that happen again. He's the coach. He learns from his mistakes. He listens to his players. So the stuff that we thought we needed more of or the stuff we didn't get last offseason, he's making sure we got it this offseason. He's just making sure everything in the facility is taken care of.
"Every team meeting you dang near want to shed a tear. You're ready to run through a wall. When he communicates like that with the players, you know you got something with your coach."
How does Schottenheimer eliminate the gray areas?
"Either you want to be here, or you don't. I feel like he lets that be known," Overshown said. "The guys that are going to play for us are going to be guys that compete every day, come in ready to work and it ain't going to be no excuses. So we don't want people there that we got to worry if they're going to be late or we got to worry if they're going to study their playbooks or not. He's already cutting that out."
Smith, the Pro Bowl left guard, said Schottenheimer wants the players to take ownership of things. The team's leadership council, consisting of veterans from each position group, has had breakout meetings "to talk about the words that we want to live by, that we want to embody," Smith said.
"He's doing different things holistically of building our identity."
If last year was about shooting baskets in the team meeting room or in his office, the dinners in 2026 are about bringing individuals closer. Schottenheimer acknowledged he might not get to all of the current 91 players, but he will try.
"We're going to get this to where we want to go, get this dynasty back going again," Overshown said. "We've got to take that extra step, and he's pushing us."