Photo credit should read PAUL BUCK/AFP via Getty Images
We’ve become really good at counting the years in Cowboys Nation. We bear the painful knowledge that it’s been 29 years since Dallas’ last Super Bowl, or even an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. But a new number is starting to take its own emotional toll; 22 years since the last time Jerry Jones made a bold, uncharacteristic move with who he hired as the Cowboys’ head coach.
2003 was the year and Bill Parcells was the hire. After watching his 90s dynasty crumble and then three-straight seasons of 5-11 records under Dave Campo, Jones was finally desperate enough to get off the friends-and-family plan with his head coaches. He brought in Parcells, a proven Super Bowl winner with a reputation for authoritarianism. He’d served as both the head coach and general manager in his stints with the Patriots and Jets before coming to Dallas, the antithesis of the type of coaches Jones has generally hired since the divorce with Jimmy Johnson.
Despite inheriting Quincy Carter as his starting quarterback and only just getting started with the rebuild, Parcells immediately ended a three-year playoff drought in his first season. As the last remnants of the 90s were purged and new franchise fixtures like DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, and Terence Newman were being added, the QB position remained a weak point for the next two years. It wasn’t until Tony Romo finally emerged in 2006 that Parcells had the passer to elevate the team to another level, but by then the relationship between Parcells and Jones had predictably eroded. He left the Cowboys the following offseason.
In the 18 years since Parcells left, we’ve seen Jones revert back to his post-Johnson desire to remain unchallenged by his head coach. He replaced Parcells with Wade Phillips, a guy who literally earned the nickname “Coach Cupcake” for his demeanor and non-confrontational approach to handling his players and co-workers. Then came Jason Garrett, a homegrown product who’d played for Jones and had family ties to the organization going back to the late 60s. Known for keeping an even keel, Garrett was never going to be adversarial with Jones or make him feel disrespected.
After giving Garrett most of a decade to try to push things forward, Jones finally moved on to Mike McCarthy in 2020. Bringing a Super Bowl ring and a long history of dominance in the NFC North, McCarthy was the most accomplished NFL head coach Jones had ever hired besides Parcells. But personality-wise, he was far more reminiscent of the soft style of Phillips, and had a reputation for not meddling in the Packers’ front office business. Again, the kind of coach that suited Jerry Jones’ ego.
Granted, these last three coaches all did a solid job of maintaining the level that Parcells had taken the Cowboys to. Phillips got Dallas its first NFC East championship since 1998 and its first playoff win since 1996. Garrett, after rebuilding the offensive line and with mostly average-to-bad defenses, won the NFC East three times in five years with two playoff wins. McCarthy led Dallas to three straight 12-win seasons and its first consecutive playoff appearances since 2006-2007.
But the last two decades have felt more like treading water than making strides. Parcells pulled the Cowboys out of annual despair and at least made it competitive again, and that’s what we’ve seen during the last three coaches’ tenures. The 2007 and 2014 teams were probably the closest to Super Bowl contention but fell short in close playoff games. But even when Dallas has otherwise appeared in the postseason, they’ve had clear weaknesses that held them back from challenging the NFL elite.
Now it’s back on Jerry Jones to change the trajectory of his franchise. Even if you think McCarthy is the team’s best coach since Parcells, or even Johnson, he’s been embarrassingly outclassed in his playoff exits and hasn’t gotten Dallas off this treadmill of mediocrity. His Super Bowl ring is now 14 years old and the game seems to have evolved beyond his ability to change and keep up with top-level performances.
If Jones is still more concerned about shielding his traumatized self-esteem, which has been the Cowboys’ Achilles’ heel for 30 years, then we’ll either get McCarthy back or some other soft hire that provides adequate ego cushion. The team’s been close enough at times that this could produce a true championship contender, but not without a whole lot of luck.
In 2025, the equivalents of the Parcells hire in 2003 would be guys like Bill Belichick and Jon Gruden. But one has already taken his talents to Chapel Hill, NC and the other is still pursuing a lawsuit against the NFL. Even if Gruden does land another head coaching job, the spotlight of the Dallas Cowboys may be more than the league or Jones wants to shine on his other issues. And frankly, even with these guys, there’d be good reason to worry that their credentials as proven winners have expired with time.
But a big name with past success isn’t the only way for Jones to be bold. What if he truly went outside the box and finally struck at a young, hotshot coordinator from some other team? Not Kellen Moore, who he knows well and would basically be another Garrett-like hire. But what about the likes of a Ben Johnson (Detroit OC) or Joe Brady (Buffalo OC), who’d bring a completely fresh perspective and new vibe to the organization? Or what about Lions DC Aaron Glenn, who actually played for Parcells in Dallas from 2005-2006 but has done all of his coaching in other circles.
Again, as always, it all comes back to Jerry Jones. If he’s as desperate to win one more Super Bowl as he claims then it’s time to stop getting in the way. Mike McCarthy was a retread when he hired him, a decade removed from his one championship, and has ultimately fallen short over this five-year run. Re-signing him now would not be a vote of confidence in McCarthy, but rather Jones surrendering to his own sense of comfort and putting his Dallas Cowboys into hospice care.
Desperation led him to do something drastic in 2003 with Bill Parcells. Twenty-two years later, it’s time for Jerry Jones to finally put the team over himself again.
