Jerry Jones says he and Mike McCarthy mutually agreed to go in different directions – Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk
It seems like we may never get the full story on the dynamic between Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy on his way out of Dallas.
Jones released a statement saying that he and McCarthy — whose contract was set to expire tomorrow — have been talking since the end of the season and ultimately agreed he wouldn’t be back.
“Throughout Mike McCarthy’s tenure here, including the last several weeks, I have been very complimentary of the job he has done,” Jones said. “That has applied to our record over that time period, our team unity and culture, Mike’s qualifications and track record of success, and on a personal level as a tremendous human being. I have great respect for Mike, and he has led the team through some very unique and challenging times during his tenure.
“Over the past week, Mike and I had the opportunity to conduct a joint review of all aspects of the past season, our players and staff, and also spent considerable time discussing the road forward for the team. These discussions were thorough and received an appropriate amount of time and depth to cover. Prior to reaching the point of contract negotiations, though, it became mutually clear that it would be better for each of us to head in a different direction. I thank Mike and wish him, his wife Jessica and their family the best. They have been a wonderful part of our community here. We will commence a search process immediately to hire the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.”
McCarthy will now become a free agent, and he’s expected to be a candidate for the head-coaching vacancies in Chicago and New Orleans, and perhaps elsewhere. And the Cowboys will now go looking for a coach who can be the first in 30 years to lead them to the Super Bowl.
Jerry Jones on McCarthy exit from Cowboys: ‘I have great respect for Mike’ – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys have taken the first step towards admitting the 2024 season was below their standards – a standard a new head coach will have to move forward.
“We will commence a search process immediately to hire the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys,” said Jones.
McCarthy leaves as one of the winningest regular season head coaches in Cowboys’ history, though unable to parlay that into postseason success for a team starved for a return to Super Bowl glory.
Both sides had initial interest in continuing the relationship prior to the season concluding, but it was not to be.
Be it length of contract and/or compensation and/or variables unknown, McCarthy’s tenure has concluded. He is now free to interview with any of the other 31 NFL teams, the Cowboys having initially denied a request from the Chicago Bears to speak with him during the exclusive negotiating rights window.
And, with that, head coach No. 9 must be named, and preferably sooner than later when considering the ramifications of installing a new coaching regime.
Mike McCarthy parting ways with Cowboys could ruin defense in 2025 – Mike Luciano, The Landry Hat
The ripple effect of McCarthy leaving is going to be quite wide.
Dallas’ next coach will likely bring in a new defensive coordinator, pushing Zimmer out of town. The Cowboys’ staff is by no means a barren wasteland drained of all football knowledge, and knocking Zimmer out of the picture could come back to bite them in the rear end.
Cowboys defense could be ruined without Mike Zimmer after Mike McCarthy leaves
Zimmer started the year off poorly, but his defense performed much better after some adjustments. Bringing him back for a second season should be on the mind of whoever ends up taking this job, but that may not end up coming to fruition.
With Trevon Diggs suffering more injuries, a roster that was threadbare after youngsters like Mazi Smith failed to develop, and multiple Dan Quinn additions playing out of position, Zimmer did the best he could with that group. It’s not totally on him this defense didn’t produce multiple All-Pros.
If the Cowboys continue to follow the league trend of hiring younger, offensive-minded coaches, there is a very good chance that hire will bring in an inexperienced, overwhelmed defensive coordinator who can’t use stars like Parsons correctly. That could be just as destructive, if not more so, than getting a middling offensive mind for Prescott.
The Cowboys shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water as it pertains to Zimmer, but the McCarthy era ending in such odd fashion might be all Jerry Jones needs to institute a more comprehensive house cleaning.
3 Mike Zimmer replacements the Cowboys should consider – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star
A new head coach working with Dak Prescott will be the headline all offseason in Dallas, but they just as badly need stability on defense.
Robert Saleh
Robert Saleh might not be a popular pick with some of the fans, but as a defensive guy, he would be a good hire.
They wouldn’t be asking if to be the head coach like was in New York, he just needs to worry about the defense, and they have plenty of talent around him.
Despite the disappointing results, the Jets ranked fourth in points allowed in 2022, 12th in 2023, and were fifth just before his dismissal.
Before joining the Jets, Saleh was the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers from 2017 to 2020, where he led a formidable defense in 2019.
This would be a decent hire for the defense who is full of guys that want to win like Micah Parsons, they need another high energy guy like Dan Quinn used to be, but also hold them accountable and I think Saleh would do just that.
Matt Eberflus
Now look as a Cowboys fan from the Midwest who has a lot of friends that are Bears fans, I would not want Matt Eberflus, but looking at the way Jerry Jones does things, it just makes sense.
You know how loyal Jones is to the guys that are homegrown, and that is exactly what Eberflus is. Before he got his first major coaching gigs, he was apart of the Dallas Cowboys.
Eberflus has ties to the Cowboys organization, having previously served as their linebackers coach and passing game coordinator from 2011 to 2017.
Following his time in Dallas, Eberflus was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts from 2018 to 2021.
What the Cowboys should be looking for in their next head coach – David Howan, Blogging The Boys
The Cowboys couldn’t hide that 2024 was a rebuilding year, and now they have a clean slate for a new head coach to step into.
Beyond experience, though, what should the Cowboys be looking for?
In looking around the league and analyzing the most successful teams, certain trends start to emerge. The best way to summarize the traits of successful head coaches in today’s NFL comes down to three key factors: leadership, aggression, and structure.
For a long time, the NFL has been obsessed with finding the next Sean McVay. It’s easy to understand why, too. McVay burst onto the scene in 2017, at the time the youngest head coach in NFL history when the Rams hired him. He led Los Angeles to 11 wins as a rookie head coach, and a year later his team was in the Super Bowl.
A few years later, McVay returned to the Super Bowl, winning it this time around after an aggressive move to trade for Matthew Stafford in the offseason. The gambles of that year led to a down season the very next year, as the Rams fell to 5-12. However, McVay has put up consecutive 10-wins seasons since then, surpassing his preseason projections both times and reminding everyone how talented of a coach he is.
The fallout of the Sean McVay Effect, as it was dubbed, led many to assume that the secret sauce of McVay was simply finding a young offensive coach. Over the next five years, 13 different offensive coordinators – many of whom had ties of some sort to McVay – landed first time head coaching gigs. Only seven of them remain employed, and three of them have a losing record for their career.
While the Sean McVay Effect has cooled somewhat, there is still a general sense around the league that the most direct path to success in hiring practices is landing an offensive play-caller as your head coach. However, this ignores the fact that nine of the 14 teams to make the playoffs this year are led by head coaches who don’t call plays on offense.
In fact, the top five offenses in the league this year by EPA/play all belong to head coaches who don’t call offensive plays, with four of them coming from a defensive or special teams background:
All five of those coaches have something in common: well-respected leaders who are aggressive in their decision making and have a sound structure in place to support the talent they have on the field. Each of these coaches employs an offensive coordinator that’s received several interview requests already, and all five of them (including Dan Quinn’s time as the Falcons head coach) have also made multiple coordinator hirings prior to this year.
Troy Aikman hammers Cowboys’ leadership, questions whether job is ‘coveted’ by coaches – Thomas Goldkamp, On 3
Troy Aikman has not been afraid at all to tell it like it is about his former team lately.
First, speaking on the set of Monday Night Countdown on ESPN, Aikman pushed back on the idea that the Dallas job is a ‘coveted’ opening.
“I don’t know that that’s accurate. I mean I do think that the Cowboys are obviously a high-profile team, whoever is head coach of that team is certainly going to draw a lot of attention,” Troy Aikman said. “But I think most football people that take over as a head coach, they want to do it on their terms. That’s hard to do (in Dallas).”
The former Cowboys quarterback, who won three Super Bowls with the franchise in the mid-90s, offered an example.
“If you take a Dan Campbell, for instance,” Aikman said. “Is Dan Campbell Dan Campbell if he’s with the Dallas Cowboys? It’s hard to imagine that he is. It’s hard to imagine that a lot of these coaches might be.”
13 Candidates Jerry Jones Might Consider for a Cowboys Job He Makes Unique – Conor Orr, Sports Illustrated
Seeing how wide of a net the Cowboys cast in their next head coaching search will be very interesting.
Who are the candidates?
Let’s touch on a few individually and a few as a group.
• Steve Sarkisian, head coach, Texas; Lincoln Riley, head coach, USC; Deion Sanders, head coach, Colorado; David Shaw, personnel executive, Denver Broncos
Each one of these coaches has some kind of string attached to Jones. Shaw works with former Cowboys DC Sean Payton now in Denver. Sarkisian is making a name for himself nearby in Austin as the head coach of the Longhorns. Riley, as mentioned above, was a top candidate the last time this job was open. Sanders is one of Jones’s most famous and noteworthy players ever.
• Aaron Glenn, defensive coordinator, Detroit Lions
Let’s say McCarthy now pushes to the forefront for the job in New Orleans, where he has strong ties and connections—or at least enough to shake the foundation of Glenn’s candidacy. Glenn is a 52-year-old Texas-born former Cowboy with experience in the Bill Parcells tree. There’s a lot to like about his candidacy.
• Bill O’Brien, head coach, Boston College; Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator, Kansas City Chiefs; Brian Flores, defensive coordinator, Minnesota Vikings; Kliff Kingsbury, offensive coordinator, Washington Commanders; Arthur Smith, offensive coordinator, Pittsburgh Steelers
Each one of these names is somehow connected to Jones. In this particular category, we’re highlighting former coaches with head chair experience, which may be something of a prerequisite for Jones at this point in his life. Remember that McCarthy was supposedly Jones’s give-me-a-Super-Bowl-before-it’s-too-late candidate, bringing with him some Lombardi Trophy gravitas. Most of these coaches had success at the NFL level with bad quarterback play—save for Kingsbury and depending on how you want to label Deshaun Watson now that we have a larger sample size on his career. Flores and O’Brien have Belichick ties, while Kingsbury made his name at Texas Tech.
