Home Sports Cowboys parting ways with Mike McCarthy just another baffling decision by Jerry Jones

Cowboys parting ways with Mike McCarthy just another baffling decision by Jerry Jones

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OXNARD, CA – JULY 25: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and head coach Mike McCarthy speak to the media during the team's training camp at River Ridge Playing Fields on July 25, 2024 in Oxnard, CA AC. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Mike McCarthy will not re-sign as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, NFL Network reported and sources confirmed to Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports on Monday. (His original five-year contract expires Tuesday.)

For championship-hungry Cowboys fans, the news was a bit infuriating: Why the delay of a week, if not months, in making a coaching change? That’s a period of time when top potential candidates have either exited the market or are well into the interview process with more aggressive franchises.

Then came the truly disconcerting, yet eye-opening, news. The reason for the split was that after a week of meetings between McCarthy and owner Jerry Jones, “the two sides were unable to come to an agreement on the length of a new contract.”

The duration of a new contract?

The duration of a contract, from the point of view of ownership, is double. One is to prevent a coach from leaving if he is successful. The second is that it establishes the initial terms of a possible buyout if it is necessary to fire you early (pay it all off or perhaps negotiate down).

It is a monetary equation.

Any consideration of the length of the deal suggests that Jones believed McCarthy was the best man for the Cowboys’ job in 2025, but was prohibitively concerned about the possibility of doling out millions if he was wrong about that.

Jerry Jones is 82 years old and worth $17 billion.

Money shouldn’t even have been a factor in the decision, at least not the tens of millions it would take to pay McCarthy if he turned in another 7-10 season. The team is in a 29-year Super Bowl drought.

It all speaks to the same old thing about Jones, whose moves are consistently baffling and rarely productive.

At the very least, one would expect more urgency on his part, except that’s exactly how he got Dallas into this hole in the first place.

Either McCarthy is the right man or he is not. That should have been the only determining factor, because you can’t take the money with you, but maybe you can buy the experience and legacy of winning another Lombardi.

Why budget control then? And why the wait?

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it seem like Mike McCarthy would return next season until he reversed course Monday. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

McCarthy wasn’t the only problem in Dallas, especially during this injury-plagued season. He previously led the Cowboys to three consecutive playoff appearances, although he never led them even to the NFC title game. He previously won a title in Green Bay.

He is a good coach.

“I think Mike is one of the best coaches out there,” Jones said a week ago.

Well, then stay with him. But if this was going to disintegrate due to contract negotiations, why didn’t it happen months ago? The Cowboys’ season ended in mid-November, when they fell to 3-7 and had already lost quarterback Dak Prescott for the season.

If the length of a new deal was going to be the determining issue (even if it shouldn’t be for a franchise that’s really betting on winning), then find out and cut bait accordingly.

That would have allowed the Cowboys to begin focusing on their next coach.

Maybe that means connecting with Bill Belichick before the NFL legend decided to head to the college ranks at the University of North Carolina.

Maybe that would be talking to other free agent coaches, like former Tennessee leader Mike Vrabel, who has already been hired by New England instead.

Or perhaps it would allow for considerable study of promising coordinators, such as the Detroit duo of Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson, who arrived at AT&T Stadium in Week 6 and humiliated the Cowboys.

Or maybe, well, maybe anything.

Instead, Dallas appears to be sitting flat-footed a week into the recruiting cycle. That doesn’t condemn them: They can still join Johnson or Glenn or even, perhaps, get Belichick to change course. Who knows?

However, it does not inspire confidence.

Jones has always been slow on the draw. During this nearly three-decade quest for another Super Bowl, he has become too attached to coaches, quarterbacks and his general manager (himself) out of some combination of loyalty, misplaced optimism and ego.

The unsuccessful seasons accumulate and the small changes in Dallas.

Now comes what could be his last coaching hire, or close to it. Jones has to do it right. However, instead of aggressively attacking the candidates, he sat down and… evaluated the season and talked about the length of the contract?

Does Jones have a plan here? Well, history says no. His role as CEO, even with some delegation, remains baffling.

This is a ruthless, high-demand job that requires many hours of work. You wouldn’t think it would be ideal for an 80-something with outside business and celebrity responsibilities.

Yet it’s Jones who still says he makes the personnel decisions, stubbornly clinging to the job even as he has often joked that he would have fired someone with his record if it weren’t for the fact that he owns the team.

It’s a funny joke…unless you’re a Cowboys fan and wondering how they’re going to get out of this mess if contract length is part of a billionaire’s consideration of who should coach the team.

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