# Cowboys add Mike Pettine

Sports · Heat 1.0 / 10 · 5 shows · 33m airtime

The Dallas Cowboys added veteran assistant Mike Pettine to the coaching staff on October 13, 2026, after a Thursday night loss to Tampa Bay, and moved Christian Parker upstairs. Pettine had announced his retirement from coaching after the 2025 season, and coach Schottenheimer said the team feels confident it got the right guy. Reporting since has established that Pettine gave Parker his first NFL job as a quality control coach in 2019, tying the two together, and that Pettine has not been on the practice field yet as he catches up on the system. The Cowboys also held a players-only meeting, and the discussion reads the move as seasoning for a young coordinator and as cover for a possible midseason…

Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/cowboys_add_mike_pettine_4165681222

## Segments

- [The Dan Patrick Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thedanpatrickshow), 2026-10-13, 9:26 to 12:00: **Runs through Pettine's rankings and retirement**. Runs through Pettine's defensive rankings and notes he retired from coaching after the 2025 season before the Cowboys brought him back. Also flags that Green Bay's site listed Parsons as not medically cleared to practice, with local media speculating he sits out Sunday night. New angle: Mike Pettine announced his retirement from coaching after the 2025 season.
- [Nightcap](https://boilpoints.com/u/nightcap), 2026-10-13, 30:34 to 39:01: **Presses on whether Parker asked for Pettine**. Reacts to the Pettine hire and presses on the one thing the announcement left open: whether first-year coordinator Christian Parker asked for him. Schottenheimer's on-record line about getting the right guy is read as a verdict on Parker, and the segment lands on the job-security question. New angle: Schottenheimer said the Cowboys feel confident they got the right guy in Pettine.
- [The Herd with Colin Cowherd](https://boilpoints.com/u/theherdwithcolincowherd), 2026-10-13, 17:51 to 20:00: **Ties the Pettine hire to the Bucs loss**. Ties the Pettine hire to the Cowboys' Thursday night loss to the Buccaneers and the heckler episode, reading the move as Dallas admitting its young coordinator needed help and as making a Schottenheimer change easier. New angle: Dallas added Mike Pettine as an assistant and moved Christian Parker upstairs.
- [The Dan Patrick Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thedanpatrickshow), 2026-10-15, 20:12 to 21:50: **Diagnoses the Cowboys' gap-assignment problems**. Schlereth reacts to the Cowboys' players-only meeting, framing Pettine's arrival as help for a young coordinator and diagnosing gap-assignment problems on a defense that can't stop the pass or the run. One meeting is fine, he says; two or three means dysfunction. New angle: The Cowboys held a players-only meeting.
- [The Right Time with Bomani Jones](https://boilpoints.com/u/therighttimewithbomanijones), 2026-10-15, 22:32 to 24:58: **Reads the Pettine hire as cover for Parker**. Reads the Pettine hire as a bad spot for first-year coordinator Christian Parker: if the defense improves Pettine gets the credit, and if it doesn't he has cover. Compares it to the Bucks consulting Doc Rivers before firing their coach and hiring him. Stays inside the hire and its meaning.
- [The Rich Eisen Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thericheisenshow), 2026-10-16, 30:23 to 35:43: **Explains the Pettine hire as staff mechanics**. McDermott walks through the Pettine hire and the Parker booth question as a coaching-staff mechanics discussion: senior assistants, play calling as an art form, and what a coordinator loses when he moves upstairs. Analysis and opinion, no new development.
- [The Rich Eisen Show](https://boilpoints.com/u/thericheisenshow), 2026-10-16, 31:21 to 34:59: **Plays Schottenheimer's clip on Pettine's first days**. Plays Schottenheimer's clip on Pettine's first days in Dallas: he has not been on the practice field yet and is in the lab catching up on the system. The rest is Pulp Fiction riffs and speculation about whether Parker lands upstairs or downstairs. New angle: Schottenheimer said Pettine has not been on the practice field yet and is in the lab catching up on the system.
- [Nightcap](https://boilpoints.com/u/nightcap), 2026-10-17, 52:53 to 59:47: **Traces Pettine's link to Parker and Ryan**. Takes up the Pettine hire and finds the connection behind it: Pettine gave Christian Parker his first NFL job as a quality control coach in 2019, and he and Schottenheimer were both on Rex Ryan's Jets staff. The rest is a debate over whether a new voice fixes a defense ranked 31st in yards and 26th in points. New angle: Pettine gave Parker his first NFL job as a quality control coach in 2019.