Following a down season under Matt Eberflus as their defensive coordinator, the Dallas Cowboys brought in Christian Parker to fill that role, and he’s made a key hire.
Cowboys Hire SMU DC Scott Symons as Inside Linebackers Coach
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Cowboys are hiring SMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons as their inside linebackers coach.
The Cowboys are hiring SMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons as inside linebackers coach, per source.
A highly respected college DC, Symons had interest from multiple NFL teams this cycle and elected to join Brian Schottenheimer’s revamped defensive staff and stay in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/SPN9BWhiGk
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 13, 2026
“The Cowboys are hiring SMU defensive coordinator Scott Symons as inside linebackers coach, per source. A highly respected college DC, Symons had interest from multiple NFL teams this cycle and elected to join Brian Schottenheimer’s revamped defensive staff and stay in Dallas,” Pelissero said.
As mentioned, the Cowboys’ defense was their Achilles heel during the 2025-26 season, leading to the team firing Eberflus in early January after finishing 7-9-1. The team ranked dead last in PFSN’s Defense Impact metric with an abysmal 62.1 grade. That grade ranks 806th among all teams since 2000. There are 830 total rankings.
Offensively, the Cowboys were fantastic under head coach Brian Schottenheimer, finishing with an 84.8 grade in PFSN’s Offense Impact metric, which ranked sixth in the NFL. Back to Symons, his coaching career began in 2007 as a wide receiver and linebackers coach for St. Dominic High School in Missouri.
From there, he served as a graduate assistant at Harding, a Division II school, then as the cornerbacks coach, co-defensive coordinator, and recruiting coordinator.
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After his time at Harding, he moved to Division I at Arkansas State in 2012 as a defensive quality control coach. Then, from 2013 until landing at SMU in 2022, he held various defensive roles at Arkansas Tech, West Georgia, Memphis, and Liberty. He was Liberty’s defensive coordinator from 2019 to 2021 before taking the same job with SMU in 2022.
Here’s how SMU has done each season defensively in terms of total yards allowed per game:
- 2022: 447.2 yards allowed per game (114th)
- 2023: 315.5 yards allowed per game (14th)
- 2024: 339 yards allowed per game (30th)
- 2025: 398.8 yards allowed per game (83rd)
While the defense took a step back in 2025, SMU was a College Football Playoff team in 2024, losing to Penn State on the road. In that game, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar completed just 13 of 22 passes for 127 yards.
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As seen by the stats above, Symons turned the defense around quickly and now lands his first NFL job for a defense in desperate need of help.
