FRISCO, TEXAS — A day after officially announcing that the organization will part ways with Jason Garrett during the Eagles and Seahawks Wild Card Game, the Dallas Cowboys named Mike McCarthy as the new head coach.
Not only was the timing of events interesting but the order of events over the past week. Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman summed up the situation to the Fort Worth Star Telegram as reported by Clarence Hill, “ When the organization was unwilling, for whatever reasons, and I don’t know the back stories to it all, but when the organization was unwilling to come out publicly and say that, ‘We are seeking a new head coach,’ and yet at the same time, reports are coming out they’re interviewing potential new candidates for the head coaching position, that’s disappointing. I think in a lot of ways it shines a light on some of the dysfunction, if you will, within the organization and kind of how they got to the point that they’re in now.”
Following the 2019 season as Jason Garrett’s contract expired, the likelihood was that the organization would part ways with the longtime coach, but due to a lack of explanation from the organization itself, much was left to assumption and interpretation. The front office never publicly announced its desire to part ways with Garrett, but at the same time reports were coming out of new candidates being interviewed for the role. The official news broke on Sunday evening that Garrett was out, after Mike McCarthy interviewed for the job and was reportedly staying with the Joneses on Saturday night following the successful interview.
I was told on Sunday that to top it off, the news leaked and that the staff had not been told by the front office or Garrett himself of his dismissal in Dallas. The staff was left to hear the news from their TV or cell phones like everyone else.
After the announcement came out on Sunday during the Wild Card Game, Jerry Jones released a statement on Garrett stating, “ His level of commitment, character, and dedication to this organization has been outstanding at every stage of his career. In his nine full years as a head coach, he guided our team to three division championships while also having them in position to play for the NFC East title in the last game of the year in four other seasons. His tenure of leadership will be characterized by his ability to produce teams that always played with great effort, emotion and passion, and he represented our organization with great pride, loyalty and respect.”
An hour after the news came out of Garrett’s departure; Jones released the statement (5:47 PM CST). 10 minutes following the statement, Jason Garrett broke the news to the staff around 6:00 PM CST. Obviously the organization did not anticipate the news breaking but regardless, the staff should have been told first and Garrett should not have been held in limbo as the organization searched for candidates.
Concluding Sunday evening’s whirlwind of events, Monday morning the club announced the new man in town: former Packers longtime coach, Mike McCarthy is the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. McCarthy’s track record of winning speaks for itself.
During his tenure in Green Bay, he led the Packers to Super Bowl XLV title and four NFC Championships games in 13 seasons. Overall, he finished his career 125-77-2 in the regular season and 10-8 in the playoffs. He has the 5th most regular season wins since 2006 per First Take:
Bill Belichick, 174
Andy Reid, 137
Mike Tomlin, 133
Sean Payton, 131
Mike McCarthy, 125
The Dallas Cowboys have a team that can win now and the organization believes McCarthy is the man to get the team to its first Super Bowl since 1995. After being fired by Green Bay, McCarthy spent the last year breaking down NFL games and film with analytics in the basement of his house per multiple sources. He began to modernize the game with new technique and approaches. He will bring his newfound innovative ways to the Cowboys. Welcome to Dallas, Mike McCarthy!
