When the Dallas Cowboys made Brian Schottenheimer the 10th head coach in franchise history, the move was met with plenty of criticism. Yes, that's the nicest way that can be put, as both fans and critics of America's Team got a little nasty at times.
Since his promotion, however, Schottenheimer has impressed. After a strong introductory press conference, the 51-year-old quickly got to work building his staff, replacing defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer with former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, who spent seven seasons in Dallas from 2011 to 2017 in various defensive roles.
He then poached Arizona Cardinals assistant Klayton Adams to become the Cowboys' new offensive coordinator, which most view as a strong hire as Adams is known for expertise in the run game, which Dallas desperately needs to improve.
Along those same lines, we come to Schottenheimer's search for a new running backs coach. We know now, of course, that the search resulted in the hiring of Derrick Foster, who held the same position with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2021 to 2023 and spent this past season with the New Orleans Saints.
If certain reports are to be believed, however, Foster wasn't Schottenheimer's first choice, as the new head man in Big D apparently had his sights set on Oregon Ducks assistant Ra'Shaad Samples.
Ra'Shaad Samples reportedly turned down an offer to become Cowboys' RBs coach, instead opting to stay at Oregon
For those unfamiliar, Ra'Shaad Samples is a Dallas native and the son of Reginald Samples, one of the winningest high school football coaches in Texas history.
Samples, who was a wide receiver as a player, suited up for his father at Skyline High School and then played collegiately at Oklahoma State before later transferring to the University of Houston. Sadly, his playing career was cut short after suffering multiple concussions, at which point he got into coaching.
After serving as a student assistant at Houston, he spent one season with the Texas Longhorns as a wide receivers coach before heading to SMU, where he spent three years in various offensive roles.
In 2022, Samples made the jump to the NFL, serving as the running backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams. He returned to the college game in 2023, joining the Arizona State staff as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach.
Ranked as the No. 1 recruiter in the Pac-12 during his lone season with the Sun Devils, Samples was lured away by Oregon head coach Dan Lanning and joined the Ducks for the 2024 campaign as a running backs coach and assistant head coach.
And Samples certainly did his job well, helping Jordan James and Noah Whittington for a combined 1,807 rushing yards and 21 total touchdowns during Oregon's run to the Big Ten title.
So, with all this experience and success at only 30 years of age, it's easy to understand why Samples was brought to Dallas to interview for the vacancy.
And that interview apparently went well, as it was reported that Samples had been offered the job over the weekend. But in a somewhat embarrassing turn of events for the Cowboys, that same report stated that he turned the job down, opting instead to remain in Eugene.
And once that report broke, Samples confirmed that he would indeed be returning to the Ducks for a second season.
#ScoDucks
— CoachSamp (@RashaadSamples) February 3, 2025
Now, Schottenheimer could have done a lot worse than Derrick Foster, who helped Saints running back Alvin Kamara to the highest rushing total of his career this past season.
But again, it's a bit embarrassing that he couldn't convince a Dallas native and the son of a Texas legend to leave the college game to join the Cowboys' coaching staff.
But if Schottenheimer can continue to surround himself with strong assistants, this will hopefully be just a small hiccup in what he hopes will be an otherwise fruitful venture.
