Every NFL head coach has his own unique style and his own way of getting his team motivated, whether for one play, one game, or an entire season.

Take, for instance, former Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who had a tradition of employing a specific theme ahead of each of his five seasons with America’s Team.

Schottenheimer, of course, is prepping for his first season as a head coach at any level.

And when asked during the Cowboys’ annual press conference to kick off training camp what the team’s motto will be for the upcoming 2025 season, the 51-year-old stated that there are no plans to implement one, effectively saying such things shouldn’t be necessary.

“The motto is always going to be compete every day,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s what we’re all about. That’s not going to change. I’ve been other places where there’s been a theme of the year; I don’t believe in that. I believe that you should have a central theme to your program, and that’s compete every day. And that’s not just on the practice field. That’s in the meeting room, it’s time away, being smart, things like that.”

Cowboys will not have a team motto under Brian Schottenheimer

Doesn’t get much more straightforward than that, does it?

McCarthy’s mottos were a divisive topic among Cowboys fans, as some seemed to love them while others thought they were pretty pointless. And it now appears that one of his assistants, who just also happens to be his replacement, Brian Schottenheimer, fell into the latter category.

In 2020, McCarthy’s motto was “20/20 Vision.” So clever, right? The following year, McCarthy kept things a little simpler, rolling with “Victory.” In 2022, with the Cowboys coming off an embarrassing postseason loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card Round, the team motto was “Resilience.”

In 2023, he went with “Carpe Omnia,” which translates to “Seize Everything.”

And last year, McCarthy opted for “Rooted,” saying that one was based on the foundation the team had built for five years. That foundation cracked, however, as Dallas finished the 2024 campaign with a 7-10 record, a mark that ultimately cost McCarthy his job.

With an upgraded roster and a seemingly healthy Dak Prescott at his disposal, there is naturally plenty of pressure on Schottenheimer to get the Cowboys back to the postseason.

And with this being the 30th anniversary of the franchise’s last Super Bowl victory, as well as its last appearance in the NFC Championship Game (Dallas is the only NFC team not to play in a conference title game this century), that pressure is even more amplified.

Time to compete.