The Dallas Cowboys have finalized their coaching staff for the 2026 season after the Jan. 22 hiring of Christian Parker as defensive coordinator.
After conducting more than 40 interviews for assistants to accompany Parker on his defensive staff, he landed on eight assistant hires for the 2026 season. Here is the new defensive staff with the titles that each coach will serve this upcoming season:
Christian Parker - Defensive coordinator
Marcus Dixon - Defensive line
Ryan Smith - Secondary
Derrick Ansley - Defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs
Chidera Uzo-Diribe - Outside linebackers
Scott Symons - Inside linebackers
Robert Muschamp - Assistant secondary
Demeitre Brim - Assistant defensive line
J.J. Clark - Assistant linebackers
Parker will serve his first year as a defensive coordinator after previous stops in Philadelphia (pass game coordinator from 2024 to 2025) and Denver (defensive backs coach from 2021 to 2023). He also served as a defensive quality control coach for Green Bay from 2019 to 2020.
Dixon arrives from Minnesota where he was the defensive line coach for the last two seasons. Prior to that, he was the defensive line coach for Denver from 2022 to 2023 and the assistant defensive line coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2021. A former player, Dixon was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cowboys in 2008 but never appeared in a game for the franchise over three seasons.
Smith enters his first season with Dallas after serving three years as the cornerbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals. Prior to his first NFL job, he served the same role for Northwestern University in 2022 and Virginia Tech from 2020 to 2021. Smith also coached for three seasons on the staff of current college football national champion Curt Cignetti at Elon (2017-2018) and James Madison (2019).
Ansley arrives from Green Bay where he was the pass game coordinator for two seasons after a three-year stint with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023 as the defensive coordinator and in 2021 to 2022 as the defensive backs coach. A former college coach with extensive experience in the SEC, Ansley served four years as an assistant under former legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
Uzo-Diribe took his first NFL job to come to Dallas under Christian Parker after 10 years as a college assistant coach. He arrives from Georgia where he was the outside linebackers coach for the last three seasons helping to develop first-round picks such as Jalon Walker and Nolan Smith. Prior to his stint with the Bulldogs, he was the defensive line coach for TCU in 2022 when the Horned Frogs made their magical run to the national championship game.
Symons also arrives in Dallas for his first job at the NFL level after spending four seasons as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at SMU. A native of Hurst, Symons graduated from Fort Worth Christian in 2004 before a brief college playing career at Lindenwood paved the way for his coaching career. He’s also seen previous stops at Liberty, Memphis, Arkansas State and more.
Muschamp, the nephew of Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, arrives after spending three seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers as a defensive quality control coach working with defensive backs and outside linebackers. He also spent four seasons at the college level with two years apiece at Georgia and Tennessee.
Brim takes his first NFL job after seven seasons at the college level with stops at UCF (defensive quality control analyst), Nebraska (defensive quality control analyst) and Lehigh (defensive line coach).
Clark is the lone assistant from the 2025 coaching staff to be retained for the 2026 season. Last year under Matt Eberflus, he served as a defensive assistant. Now, he will work in an assistant role with the linebacker group. He arrived in Dallas after being the defensive coordinator at UTEP.
In addition to finalizing the defensive staff, the Cowboys also hired Stephen Bravo-Brown as assistant wide receivers coach, Jamel Mutunga as assistant running backs coach and Kyle Fuller as assistant offensive line coach.