FRISCO, Texas – After the 2025 season, Mike Pettine decided he needed to step away from football for a bit. Football takes a lot of time away from family, and Pettine wanted to make sure he devoted time there along with getting himself healthy with a shoulder replacement.
He and his wife, Megan, recently traveled to Italy for 3 weeks to celebrate his 60th birthday. It was there that his phone rang, with Cowboys DC Christian Parker on the other line.
"When somebody you care about reaches out, I just felt I just needed to answer the call." Pettine said.
Now, Pettine is Dallas' senior defensive assistant after the Cowboys started the year 2-3 and have struggled to find their footing on defense in Parker's first season as a defensive coordinator in the NFL. Pettine said he could tell that Parker needed a hand when he called.
"I knew," Pettine said. "It was just, you know, it's been some tough circumstances. When somebody you care about, a friend that's in need and asks for some help, you answer the call."
The idea of Pettine joining the staff began in February. Pettine visited the Star during OTAs, but the topic of joining the staff did not come up as Pettine said Parker knew how adamant he was on taking some time away from the game. The Cowboys talked to a few other coaches, but nothing worked out, and now Pettine is here to provide support for Parker.
"Just clearly support, just advise him," Pettine said. "I think we'll build a lot of the stuff together, we'll gameplan along with the staff. I just feel like my experience there, having gone against a lot of these opponents over time and kind of built books on most of these offensive coordinators, just feel I'll be able to help that way. Game day, I'll just be up top as another set of eyes for him to bounces things off of, offer suggestions. I think the role will just kind of grow as it goes, but like I said, I'm just trying to get up and running."
Pettine believes that his depth of knowledge over 24 years of coaching in the NFL, including three stops as a defensive coordinator and one as a head coach, can give Parker a boost moving forward.
"I think I can help a lot," Pettine said. "It's funny, I have a big four-inch thick book of what not to do, and a very thin one of what to do. So I think that's key, is to be able to learn from others mistakes. As much as you think you're prepared for it, you're really not until you get into it. And I think that's where I'll be able to help him."
Over the last few days since being hired, Pettine said he feels as though he's sipping water through a fire hose trying to catch up on Dallas' defense. What has he written down in his notes so far?
"One thing I learned a long time ago is football's a game of a million little things," Pettine said. "There's no one magic play to run, it's a lot of the detail stuff. Just been taking a lot of notes. It's not like it's something that, 'Hey, we're going to do these 30 things different today,' but it's things that need to get addressed."
"I think I got a pretty good feel now for the roster. Part of the plan needs to be, 'Hey, let's highlight what we do well,' and make sure we gear that towards taking away just typical game plan staff, take away what the opponent does well. It's a lot of little things."
With Christian Parker as the final decision maker for the defense, Pettine isn't concerned about potentially crossing any boundaries or overstepping his role because of the familiarity the two have with each other.
"CP knows me well enough that when I say something, some other people might be a bit shocked by it, and he just knows who I am," Pettine said. "He'll understand where I'm coming from. I'll make some suggestions, and when we get behind closed doors, if I need to have some tough conversations, we'll do it as I've always done with him or with other coaches. I don't see that part of it being an issue."
The two first crossed paths in 2019 when Pettine offered Parker a job as a defensive quality control coach with the Packers while Pettine was the defensive coordinator. It wasn't an easy path to get there, as Parker participated in what Pettine described as the "QC Olympics" set up by then assistant DBs coach and current Dolphins secondary coach Ryan Downard.
Pettine joked that he thought Downard was going to have the coaches participating break down film while crawling under barbed wire. Parker may as well have in his first impression, which ultimately landed him the job.
"The thing I sensed from the jump is just very mature beyond his years," Pettine said. "Just comes across very professional, very adult. He was great. There was nothing that we threw at him that he couldn't handle, and he proved that out once we hired him. He was my right-hand guy for that time we were together in Green Bay."
Parker isn't the only familiar face for Pettine in Dallas. He coached defensive line coach Marcus Dixon with the Jets, worked with game management coordinator Ryan Feder in Green Bay and also coached DT Kenny Clark and OLB Rashan Gary with the Packers.
Plus, Pettine and Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer were the defensive and offensive coordinators respectively under Rex Ryan with the Jets from 2009-2011. The two have been friends ever since and get to reunite once again in Dallas.
"I have a lot of respect for him and everything that he's done," Pettine said of Schottenheimer. "That's why it was easy to not just answer CP's call, but his."
