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Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer had an unexpected visitor at his home Thursday.
Schottenheimer, 52, found a flying owl in his living room.
“I’m in a preparation meeting last night doing some red zone stuff and I leave the meeting around 10 p.m. and I go back to my phone, and I literally had 72 text messages on my phone. Seventy-two. I’m a popular guy, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary,” Schottenheimer told reporters Friday.
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Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer looks on before the game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on October 26, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
“But it literally started with a text from my son to his mom saying, ‘Um, there’s a big bird the size of a hawk here,’ and I started looking down and there was an owl.”
The Cowboys head coach called his future nephew and niece for help with the owl, but they got nowhere.
“We’re not very outdoorsy people, and so he didn’t really know what to do, so he called my future nephew, who’s marrying my niece, and both of them, Frick and Frack, were trying to figure it out. They couldn’t do it. All they did was piss themselves off. And so, in typical coaching fashion, I called my wife and said, ‘Honey, I’m going to stay at the apartment tonight, you as this,” Schottenheimer said.
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Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer looks on before the game against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on October 19, 2025. (Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)
Eventually animal control was called and the owl was removed.
“The owl was returned to its safe domain. … They called animal control. A man came with a net, like a pool net. Maybe I should consider this as another job. Just become a little bit of an animal control guy. I’m so experienced now with the wildlife in and around Dallas,” Schottenheimer said.
The owl wasn’t Schottenheimer’s first encounter with wildlife so far this season. Before the team’s first win of the season against the New York Giants in Week 2, he had a problem with the snakes.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer watches the third quarter of the game against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on October 19, 2025. (Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)
Two of his dogs were bitten by snakes earlier that week, but it turned into a Cowboys victory. Schottenheimer called the owl a “good omen” and said he would be willing to keep an elephant in his garage if it meant a win for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys are 3-4-1 this season and will face the Arizona Cardinals (2-5) on Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET.
