Cowboys Add Ping Pong Table to Locker Room for Brian Schottenheimer's 1st Season as HC

In his first year running the show, Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer is adding a ping pong table to the locker room, per team beat reporters.

From 2021-2023, Dallas went 12-5 each season, making the playoffs each time. However, the Cowboys regressed to 7-10 last year, and the team decided to part ways with head coach Mike McCarthy after his contract expired.

Now Schottenheimer, the team's former OC, is aboard. And he's looking to mold the culture in his image.

If you think you've seen similar stories like this before, it's because you probably have. Offseasons typically feature notes about new regimes adding pingpong tables to promote things like camaraderie or competitiveness or removing them for the sake of discipline or focus.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post talked about the common nature of ping pong stories over the years.

They are so notable that Jake Kring-Schreifels of GQ Sports did an in-depth piece on them in Nov. 2023, noting the frequency over time.

"Over the last two decades, there has been no shortage of these kinds of stories: You can read about ping-pong fights in Pittsburgh, Seattle, Atlanta, Buffalo, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Washington, to name just several. Each season, at least one new coaching staff will bring in paddles and white plastic balls (often in addition to diversions like video games, cornhole, or even golf simulators) to promote better chemistry and leisure—until or unless the team starts losing, in which case ping-pong quickly becomes the culprit for a lax approach in preparation and must be removed."

We'll see if the inclusion of the ping pong table in Dallas works out down the road. The ultimate test will on the football field, though, when the Cowboys open the season on Sept. 4 at the defending Super Bowl Philadelphia Eagles.