Mike McCarthy’s time with the Dallas Cowboys has officially ended, and no matter who’s to blame in the mutual parting of ways, the search is on for a new head coach. With a normal organization that’s serious about winning, this would include exploring every option and bringing in the best candidates.
However, based on the names currently being tossed around, Jerry Jones isn’t likely to do that, he’d rather look into coaches he’s comfortable hiring. We’re only a few days into the search and the Cowboys have already screwed up the process of hiring a new coach.
This isn’t surprising, the Cowboys have gotten notoriously cheap with their coaches, and Jones’ need to be involved in everything can limit the impact of a possible hire. Former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman might have been right when he explained that being head coach for America’s Team might not be a coveted job in the NFL these days.
Comfortable and cheap isn’t the ideal way to find the best coach, but it seems to be the sweet spot for Jones. Here are five ways the Cowboys have made a mess of their coaching search.
Keeping Mike McCarthy beyond expiration date
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This failure of the Cowboys to find the right coach didn’t begin with a 7-10 season led by McCarthy, it started last January when the Green Bay Packers dominated the Cowboys in the playoffs. Instead of holding the coach responsible for another early playoff exit, Jones decided to keep McCarthy when most football people likely would’ve fired him.
There were reasons for keeping McCarthy. Winning 12 games three years in a row, winning two NFC East titles, and making the postseason every time you’ve had a healthy quarterback makes a valid case for sticking with the coach.
However, the team struggled to beat good teams and never got out of the divisional round of the playoffs. A 1-3 playoff record where all three losses were in an embarrassing fashion should have been enough to look for another coaching option. The object shouldn’t be to make the playoffs, it should be to win the Super Bowl and it was evident McCarthy wasn’t capable of that in January of 2024.
Not extending McCarthy
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Not only did Jones keep McCarthy around, but he failed to extend the coach, making him a lame duck heading into the last year of his contract. McCarthy and many of the coaching staff assembled were on one-year deals, which is not ideal.
Also, with Jerry and Stephen Jones knowing they were likely going to sit out of free agency last offseason, they made McCarthy one of the fall guys if a disappointing 2024 campaign should occur, which ultimately happened. The team could’ve been one year ahead of their soft rebuild with their coach in place instead of being behind the curve. Again, not ideal for an 82-year-old owner who doesn’t have the time to be patient.
Not extending McCarthy also sends a bad message to potential candidates that Jones has now let three straight coaches reach the end of their deals. It happened to Jason Garrett twice, although he got a new deal coming off the 2014 season, and now McCarthy. If the organization isn’t willing to commit to its coach, why would any potential hire want to work for Jones?
Waiting a week to let McCarthy walk away
Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.
In doing the will-he-or-won’t-he-be-back dance with McCarthy for a week, the Cowboys missed out on a week’s worth of interviews they could have been doing with some of the top candidates. The Detroit Lions coaches in particular, should have been of interest, but now they Cowboys will have to wait until the Lions are out of the playoffs to interview them if they want to hire offensive coordinator Ben Johnson or defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.
By waiting, both have interviewed for other jobs and the Cowboys are behind in pursuit.
There are other candidates that have already spoken to other teams or taken other jobs as well. Mike Vrabel was hired by the New England Patriots, or he might have been a strong option in Dallas, and the same can be said for Bill Belichick, who took a college coaching job a few weeks ago. Had the Cowboys moved quicker in agreeing to move on without McCarthy, or indicated to Belichick that he was an option, they wouldn’t be searching for a worse candidate right now.
Granted these are assumptions based on publicly available info, but those conversations should have been ongoing towards the end of the season, and it should have been known right away whether the team and McCarthy could still work together. A week was wasted, valuable time when considering the college bowls and scouting process is about to kick into high gear without much direction from a coaching staff.
Reaching out to Deion Sanders
Jackson State University head coach Deion Sanders during a Sept. 5 game.
With a bevy of names the Cowboys could hire floating around immediately after McCarthy and the team parted ways, the first name to be tied to the job was Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders. The former Cowboy has enjoyed a good run as a head coach at Jackson State and Colorado in college football, but he’s not a fit for the NFL.
In college, Sanders can choose his own players and is more of a motivator than an X’s and O’s coach. He wouldn’t be able to recruit players and use the portal to get guys to come to his team in the NFL.
And as good of a job as Sanders does at building hype, he’s got just a 13-12 record since arriving at the FBS level. When Jones hired college coaches in previous situations, those hires arrived with national titles in hand. Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer were elite college coaches with much better resumes than Sanders.
He would be perfect for ratings and help lead the circus that Jones promotes in Dallas, but having Sanders be the first name tied to the gig shows the Cowboys aren’t a serious franchise.
Considering Jason Witten
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There hasn’t been much concrete proof to link Witten to the job, but there have been rumblings about Jones trying to add his former tight end as a positional coach to get him to be the essential head coach in waiting. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, and with the success of another former TE with the Lions, it wouldn’t be out the realm of possibility for Witten to be considered by an owner/GM who does things his own way. The Cowboys could simply bypass the assistant aspect and hire Witten outright.
However, there’s a big difference between Dan Campbell and Witten. Campbell spent over 10 years on NFL sidelines as a positional coach and was an interim head coach for the Miami Dolphins to help him prepare for the gig. In comparison, Witten has been busy the last few years coaching high school football and leading his team to state championships. It would be a gigantic leap if Witten went to the NFL with no coaching experience at a high level of football and a slap in the face to those who have worked hard for the opportunity to be considered for the job.
Jones has been effusive in his praise of Witten and has said before that he believes Witten would be a great coach, so it’s fair to wonder if a man known for making the splashy move would be willing to do something so risky. Just like as with Sanders, considering Witten makes the Cowboys look like an unserious franchise.
