Mike McCarthy’s status, NFL draft talk, Cotton Bowl and hurtin’ Mavs

SportsDay Insiders Kevin Sherrington and David Moore discuss [3:12] Mike McCarthy's status and the odds that he'll be back as the Cowboys' head coach. David notes that they might have gotten a little arrogant thinking that Tyler Guyton could duplicate what Tyler Smith did before him, and the mistakes made overall in the last two drafts impacted this disappointing season. [29:55] Kevin says Texas will have to play its best game of the season to beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl semifinals, which might be the actual championship game. [42:57] The guys also discuss what impact the Mavs' injuries will have on the trade deadline and whether it'll be a problem heading toward the playoffs.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It will be mostly sunny but chilly today with a high of 42. Clouds will move in this evening with a low of 30 expected. Of course the focus is really on tomorrow’s weather with a wintry mix of snow and sleet forecast for North Texas and temperatures hovering around the freezing mark all day. Dallas officials urged residents to stay off city streets once wintry weather hits North Texas as soon as late Wednesday and focus on protecting their pipes, pets, plants and people. Officials overseeing roads, public safety, homelessness response and other city infrastructure say preparations for snow and ice began Sunday amid frigid temperatures and are expected to ramp up starting Wednesday. ERCOT, the electrical grid operator for most of Texas, has issued a weather watch scheduled to last through Friday “due to forecasted cold weather across the ERCOT region, higher electrical demand, and the potential for lower reserves.” In other news, the U.S. Department of Justice has expanded its lawsuit over price fixing in the rental housing market, accusing a Dallas-based apartment management firm and five of the nation’s largest landlords of participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that drove up rents. And Jay Hartzell didn’t set out to leave the University of Texas’ flagship campus for a smaller private college in Dallas. But after SMU board members began aggressively recruiting him for their soon-to-be-vacant president job, Hartzell listened.  He will take over at SMU in June, capping the 30-year tenure of R. Gerald Turner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get ready for a cool down today and the rest of the week. Clouds will roll into the area with a high of 40 today. The overnight low will be 26. The weather is the big story as the temperature will drop in the coming days with the possibility of a ‘measureable snow’ beginning on Wednesday evening and continuing into Thursday. The rain-snow mix is expected to last into Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. A forecast Monday afternoon showed some areas of North Texas getting between 2 to 5 inches of snow with isolated areas further west possibly getting up to 8 inches of accumulation during the winter storm; Fans traveling to Arlington this week for the Cotton Bowl game may be met with wintery weather conditions. The Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium will be the site of the College Football Playoff semifinal game between Texas and Ohio State, which kicks off Friday at 6:30 p.m.; well into the fall semester, New Hope Christian Academy in Plano abruptly announced it would cease operations, sending families scrambling to find a new school and leaving teachers unpaid and confused. Former staffers say the school had about 75 students from pre-K through 12th grades; And according to Southern Living magazine, Babe’s Chicken Dinner House is one of the best Southern restaurants in the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plenty of sunshine on the way today but it will be significantly cooler than it was over the weekend with a high of only 38. The low tonight will be 24. Chances are rising that North Texas could see some form of wintry precipitation this week. The cold is projected to stay over the area all week, and temperatures are expected to rise above freezing most days before falling again each evening. According to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, a forecast discussion on Sunday mentioned that there is a “high confidence in wintry precipitation” from Wednesday night through Friday morning with a “70-80% chance of at least measurable, or a tenth of an inch of snowfall accumulations.” The highest chance of precipitation is Thursday night into early Friday, but the chance of precipitation starts as early as just after midnight Thursday. Snow and ice could accumulate Friday morning, but it is unlikely to last for a prolonged period as the forecast high that day in Dallas is 43; At First Baptist Dallas, construction workers have embarked on the painstaking work of demolishing and preserving high-value pieces of the church’s historic sanctuary, which was heavily damaged in a July fire; And the Cowboys’ season finally ended Sunday at AT&T Stadium against their long-time rivals the Washington Commanders. The Commanders defeated the Cowboys 23-19 as the season ended in dramatic fashion when Marcus Mariota connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver Terry McLaurin with three seconds left. The Cowboys finished the season 7-10. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mostly cloudy in the Dallas area today. The sun will peek through on occasion with a high temp of 62. The clouds will stick around this evening with a low of 51. Saturday will be cloudy as well with a chance for an afternoon thunderstorm. The high and low will not differ more than a few degrees in the low 60s. Sunday will be a bit of a transition day. Mostly sunny skies with a high of 64 and then as the day progresses into the evening and early morning hours of Monday, the temperature will plummet into the low 20s, setting up a chilly start for a cold week ahead. Investigators are probing why Shamsud-Din Jabbar who bragged about his Beaumont roots and militant work ethic went from working in real estate to praising ISIS just before he launched a deadly attack in New Orleans. In other news, the suspects at the center of the New Year’s terror attack in New Orleans, and another in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, both got their vehicles through an app-based car rental service called Turo. Also, November home sales in Dallas-Fort Worth showed the strongest year-over-year improvement since mid-2021 — but those who watch the market closely have some concerns. And, the Texas Longhorns are gearing up for their Jan. 10 showdown with Ohio State in the semifinals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tiger Bech, the brother of Texas Christian University wide receiver Jack Bech, has been identified as one of the victims of the deadly truck attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. He was 27. In other news, four people were killed in a vehicle crash in Mesquite early Wednesday and a man faces charges. Four people were standing outside the car when another vehicle headed east “drifted onto the shoulder” and hit all four people and the disabled car; one person was killed and three others were wounded Wednesday afternoon during a shooting in Red Bird. Officers were dispatched about 2:40 p.m. to the 2900 block of St. George Drive, near Chaucer Place, where they found four people had been shot; And the Texas Longhorns have punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff semifinals for a second straight year. Andrew Mukuba intercepted Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt in the second overtime of yesterday’s Peach Bowl to give Texas a 39-31 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Longhorns will advance to the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington and will face Ohio State who beat Oregon last night in the Rose Bowl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah Jane Ramos, the fiancée of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, had items worth thousands of dollars stolen from her vehicle the day after Christmas, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Dallas Morning News. According to a Dallas Police Department report, “several pieces of property” worth close to $40,000 were stolen Sunday night. In other news, this year’s New Year’s Eve entertainment at Reunion Tower will no longer include a drone display as the show’s North Texas-based drone provider contends with a Florida crash. Dallas Love Field travelers won’t have to journey as far to catch an Uber or Lyft at the airport starting Friday. Airport officials say they’re moving the rideshare pickup area closer to the terminal, which is expected to cut the walk from baggage claim roughly in half. And a Colleyville man is accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced earlier this month that the FBI arrested Daniel Dustin Deneui on Dec. 18 in Fort Worth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jimmy Carter, the one-term president of the post-Watergate era whose unparalleled peace-making during a remarkable 40-year post-presidential period earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia. He was 100. In other news, the Dallas Cowboys lost 41-7 at Philadelphia on Sunday but it won’t necessarily determine Mike McCarthy’s fate. Five years of results as the Cowboys head coach tilts the scales more than anything that happens in the final eight days of the regular season. But what the Eagles did to a Dallas team that had won four of its last five games on an unseasonably warm afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field didn’t help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dallas Animal Services is set to host “Calming the Canines” on Dec. 31, designed to alleviate the stress experienced by shelter pets during the New Year’s Eve fireworks. The event will begin at 10:30 p.m. and finish up around 12:30 a.m., and DAS is calling on the community to participate in the initiative; In other news, venture into the great outdoors on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with Texas Parks and Wildlife. The state agency will once again host First Day Hikes, a way to start the new year (and those resolutions for better health) on the right foot. Ray Roberts Lake State Park, an hour north of Dallas is hosting its second Tri-Park-A-Thon. Attendees can choose to join for nearly a full day of activity or just for a leg of the journey. The first hike is at 9 a.m., second is at 11, and then again at 1:30 p.m. Each hike is between two and five miles. Hikers who complete all three hikes receive a prize; what makes Plano one of the best cities in the country to raise kids? For many it comes down to affordability, education, child care, family fun and socioeconomics. This year, personal finance company WalletHub ranked Plano the fourth best city in the country to raise a family; And if 2024 was the year inflation altered how often we dined in Dallas-Fort Worth, 2025 will be the year we take back our seat at the table. Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association said, “Cautious optimism” is the catchphrase in the new year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Kristine J. Guleserian is the director of the congenital heart surgery program at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas. The 56-year old surgeon treats tiny patients on a daily basis, operating on babies who are born with improperly functioning hearts. Guleserian has a lot of professional experience with pediatric heart defects; In other news, ScholarShot offers scholarships and mentors low-income and first-generation college students with individualized plans and support through graduation. The organization takes 50 students every year from a pool of about 1,200 applicants. The program aims to solve a statewide problem: Many low-income students who enroll in college don’t ever graduate; first responders in Sherman are searching for a missing 8-year-old girl who was swept into a drainage ditch on Christmas Eve after a car crashed off US Highway 75. Crews searched for the girl much of the night and picked up again Christmas morning. ; And the Dallas Mavericks nearly pulled off a Christmas Day miracle but lost 105-99 to Minnesota. The Mavs’ Luka Doncic injured his left calf in the first quarter and will undergo an MRI on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the injury confirmed Wednesday to The Dallas Morning News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices