IRVING, Texas, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Bill Parcells took less than a week to name his coordinators, turning to trusted friend Maurice Carthon to run the offense and leaving Mike Zimmer in charge of the defense for the Dallas Cowboys.
Carthon played under Parcells on both of his Super Bowl-winning teams with the New York Giants and also served as an assistant under Parcells with the New England Patriots and New York Jets.
Carthon served as offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions this past season after originally joining the team as the running backs coach in 2001.
Zimmer has directed the Cowboys' defense for the last three years under former coach Dave Campo. This past season, Dallas ranked 13th in points allowed and yielded 17 or fewer seven times.
Parcells, who won two titles with the Giants and guided the Patriots to the Super Bowl in 1996 and the Jets to the AFC championship game in 1998, came out of a three-year retirement to become Cowboys coach last Thursday.
Known as a bruising blocking fullback, Carthon played six years under Parcells in New York. He began his coaching career in New England in 1994 as an offensive assistant and shifted to coaching running backs in 1995. Carthon followed Parcells to the Jets in 1997 and served as assistant head coach and running backs coach.
Prior to being promoted to defensive coordinator by Campo in February 2000, Zimmer spent five years as Cowboys' defensive backs coach and a year as a defensive assistant working with the nickel defense.
