Are the Dallas Cowboys Already Interviewing for a New Head Coach?
Jason Garrett has been football’s iron man when it comes to coaches over the last decade. For years, he has been on the hot seat for the Dallas Cowboys, and for years, Jerry Jones has had Garrett’s back. This year, however, could prove to be the one that gets Garrett canned unless he can overcome the odds during the final four games and into a possible playoff berth thanks to a weak division that they lead. Some think regardless of this season’s outcome, the Cowboys could be looking for a new head coach.
Jason Garrett in Dallas
After years as an assistant coach, Jason Garrett became the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 2010. As such, he saw the bulk of the Tony Romo era where the Cowboys notoriously underachieved more often than they didn’t. After going 5-3 as an interim head coach with the Cowboys, Garrett got the title of head coach and began with three straight seasons of 8-8 football.
While the next three years saw some success, with the Cowboys getting 12 wins in 2015 and 13 wins in 2016, the team failed to contend nearly every season. They never won a big football game, and every good season was matched with a mediocre, even bad season after.
Garrett has spent nearly half his tenure with the Cowboys, if not longer, constantly on the hot seat as “America’s Team” failed to live up to that label. Jones is notorious for wanting things his way and his way only, and Garrett was able to get in his good graces. If recent reports are to be believed, however, this good faith could soon run out.
Is Jason Garrett done?
Garrett is currently coaching the team to what appears to be another mediocre season, but his days in Dallas could be numbered. The league has no rules against hiring a new head coach when one is already employed, although a team doing so could be seen as operating in bad faith on both the team’s end and the coach’s end.
Cowboys fans are getting restless, but it does not end with them. Recently, legendary Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson predicted misery for the team if they don’t cut ties with Garrett soon.
“I think even if they win the division and even if they’re in the playoffs — I don’t see them winning a playoff game — and I think the negativity in Dallas and around the Cowboys right now, it would be miserable if he continued to be the head coach,” Johnson said. “Nobody would be happy if he continued to be the head coach a year from now.”
With Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, and a young core who is waiting to break out, now might be the perfect time for the team to look elsewhere, and the team may have already sent out their feelers.
Who could be the new Cowboys head coach?
Jane Slater of NFL Network reported that the team is already expressing interest toward people who are not Garrett when it comes to next year. One of the big names that have been thrown around is embattled college legend Urban Meyer, whom Slater says has real interest from the Cowboys.
The list doesn’t end with Meyer, however. Other names that have been thrown out are Lincoln Riley, who is currently the head coach at the University of Oklahoma, and Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.
With nearly a decade of chances to bring the Cowboys back to relevance, Garrett has not shown that he is the right coach for the team. However, with Jones at the helm, some might see him as a bigger problem than any player or coach can fix. Until he learns this, anyone they hire might not stand a chance to succeed.
