With the Cowboys seemingly back-flipping into football abyss, Wade Phillips is off the hot seat, which is good news for him. Bad thing is, he no longer has a seat. He(and Jerry of course and maybe Jerry more than anybody) drove the team bus and everybody inside it into complete mediocrity.
As I said in the last article, the problem with the team is culture and their mentality. The Cowboys' next coach needs to:
- Keep them accountable,
- Get them motivated and keep them motivated for the entire season and training camp.
- Maintain discipline in the players.
- Understand X's and O's. He's got to be able to put the players in the right position to make plays.
- Keep them humble. The team needs to ignore outside distractions
- Teach them how to deal with adversity.
- Instill fight in the team.
- Keep Jerry away from making basic football decisions.
- Have a winning track record and possibly a Super Bowl ring or two
Even so, the team needs major change. That starts with Jerry giving up control of basic football operations. Next, you need a new head coach and at the very least a new offensive coordinator.
I'll go through all the candidates that I want, rank them, and explain why I would want or wouldn't want a potential head coach.
10) Herm Edwards (54-74 Regular Season, 2-4 Playoffs)
Here's a name the people are familiar with, so I wont be giving the history like I did with the Brian Schottenheimer. Herm has about 20 years of coaching experience. I think he has an ability to relate to the players, which can be a really good thing. I think the players listen to what he preaches. The problem is, I'm not sure he preaches the right things. 56-77 all-time record, which obviously isn't very good. And to me, he seems arrogant. That's not good when the team is arrogant. The only reason I have him as a better option than Schottenheimer is because he has head coaching experience.
9) Steve Mariucci (72-67, 3-4)
He, unlike Herm, actually has a winning record as a coach, albeit, not by much. He has a 72-67 all-time record. 3-4 in the playoffs. He's an extremely likable guy and that, sadly, isn't good for the Cowboys. Just look at Wade. He could be good for Romo as he served as Brett Favre's Quarterback coach for 4 years. But that's not enough to warrant hiring. Jerry would walk all over Mooch. I would be optimistic if we hired him, but I sure would root like hell for him.
8) Jason Garrett
I have the current offensive coordinator sitting in 7th as far as head coaching candidates. He was well thought of when we hired him. Some think he'll be a better Head Coach than an Offensive Coordinator. He had a great year calling the offense in 2007 with Tony Sparano working with him. Other than that, he's been pretty mediocre.
The offense, like the entire team, just doesn't seem disciplined. A good thing if he was promoted to the head position is the offense wouldn't need to learn an entire new playbook. But to me, he doesn't have the offense firing on all cylinders, how could he get the entire team going? The Cowboys need big change and he definitely would NOT be change.
7) Jon Gruden (95-81, 5-4)
Jon Gruden seems like the favorite to be the next head coach. He apparently would be open to sharing the decision making with Jerry Jones. Jerry would be more inclined to hire a guy like that. Gruden as a head coach has been very inconsistent. His record as a head coach is 100-85. He took over for Tony Dungy in 2002 and won the Super Bowl. Gruden had a good year in '05 when he won 11 games. He also had some good years with the Raiders the 4 years before that. Other than that, he was sub par at best.
I'm not sure he understands X's and O's very well and he wouldn't he Jerry in check. Other than that, I think he could at least moderately improve the Cowboys' discipline and everything that goes into improving the culture of the team. I do not think he'd make them consistent.
6) Brian Billick (80-64, 5-3)
The Former Ravens head coach, like Jon Gruden, had a fairly inconsistent coaching career. He's 80-64 as a head coach including a 5-3 playoff record. Winning 4 playoff games in one year, including the Super Bowl. I believe has all of the qualities I want in a head coach. But like Gruden, I'm not sure how good he is schematically and if he'd demand that Jerry take a step back and out of every day football operations. I worry about how he handled his Quarterback situation all those years in Baltimore. I'm pretty sure he was viewed as an Offensive coach, though he was carried throughout his coaching career by his defense. I'd have some faith in Brian Billick though given his decent track record.
5) Jim Harbaugh
This is a relatively new name, but I personally have respected Jim Harbaugh for as long as I knew what football was. I think the first memory of football I have is of Jim Harbaugh leading come from behind victories as a member of the Colts. He's one of my favorite players, period. And that's saying something considering he never played for the Cowboys.
He coached at San Diego University where he racked up 29 wins, while only losing 6 times. He was then hired by University of Stanford in 2007. He's turned around Stanford team that won 1 game and lost 11 the year before he took over.
He interviewed for the Jets' Head Coaching job in '09. But as an NFL Head Coach, you'd have to believe he's green. I'm not sure if he can or at least assist in formulating an NFL game plan on defense. I believe he'd keep the players accountable, keep them motivated and humble, and get them disciplined. Jerry, again, would keep his nose in the coaches business though. And he'd have to win the players over. He doesn't have many skins on the wall as a coach, so they might try to walk over him ignore his teachings. But I believe he is a very good coach that demands your attention.
4) John Fox(72-64, 5-3)
The current Head Coach of the Panthers is on the hot seat himself. His Carolina Panthers have 1-7 record themselves. He's been pretty good. Under his rein, the worst a team has finished was 7-9 three times. He also has two 8-8's, two 11-5's and a 12-4. Fox has been to a Super Bowl in 2003, losing to the Panthers. He owns an overall record of
Jerry Jones apparently thinks pretty highly of John Fox. He's in the last year of his contract and he apparently would like the spotlight the Cowboys would provide. Jerry might allow him to do what he wants to do.
3) Marty Schottenheimer( 200-126, 5-13)
He's 67 years old and been out of coaching since the 2006 season when he was fired after going 14-2. He didn't have the best relationship with General Manager, A.J. Smith. He has a bunch of skins on the wall and he's definitely been around and seen it all. He doesn't have a great record in the playoffs and that's been well documented, but personally, I'm not thinking about the playoffs as much as I am about the team just being competitive on a weekly basis and getting to the playoffs.
He's very demanding and his players WILL respect him. Whether he wants the job and whether he can work with Jerry Jones at GM remains to be seen.
2) Mike Holmgren(161-111, 13-11)
Holmgren is in the same boat as Schottenheimer in that I'm not sure he wants to coach anymore or for how long. I'm not sure if he still wants to coach as he's 62 years old. I'm also not sure he can work with Jerry Jones. He holds a GM position currently with the Cleveland Browns. He has a winning track record and has a Super Bowl victory. He's very well respected around the league and he's a great coaching mind. Holmgren isn't a soft coach. He'd get something out of these players. If he wants the job, which is a big if, give it to him. But Schotty and Holmgren are very good Head Coaches, who have a good Head Coaching resumes.
1) Bill Cowher (149-90, 12-9)
Surprised? Of course not. Bill Cowher might be the best coach available consensually. He's definitely the most wanted coach among Cowboys fans, I'm sure. He's pretty much everything you could want as a coach and everything the Cowboys need. The players need their fair share of spray from Cowher's mouth. He has demeanor to change the culture pretty quickly. I'm not sure he'd want to work with Jerrah, but for the right price, maybe. This would be a HUGE win for the organization.
Coaches to remember:
Mike Zimmer - Bengals Defensive Coordinator. He runs the 4-3, though he did run the 4-3 Parcells' final year. Jerry has been reported to be pretty fond of Zimmer.
Leslie Frazier - Vikings Defensive Coordinator. Likes to run a Cover Two defense. I don't know much else about him really. I know he's been a hot commodity for several years.
Perry Fewell - Giants Defensive Coordinator. He runs the 4-3 in New York, but he does have 3-4 experience in Buffalo. He went 3 and 4 as an interim Head Coach last year.
Dom Capers - Packers Defensive Coordinator. He's extremely familiar with the 3-4 scheme. The Cowboys attempted to hire him as a defense assistant a few years back. He has a 48-80 All-Time head coaching record though.
Brian Schottenheimer - The son of former head coach Marty Schottenheimer. He began his college career as a Quarterback on the Kansas Jayhawks before traveling to Gainesville to back up then Quarterback Danny Wueffel at Florida. He was apart of the 1996 National Championship team in 1996. Schottenheimer was an assistant coach with the St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Syracuse Orange, USC Trojans and Washington Redskins from 1997 to 2001, before becoming an assistant coach with the Chargers. He was an assistant under his father, Marty Schottenheimer, in three of those coaching positions: Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins and San Diego Chargers per Wikipedia. He was rumored to be in the running for both the Dolphins job when Nick Saban left and the Jets job when Eric Mangini was let go.
I'm not sure he has the personality or the ability to command the Cowboys locker room. He doesn't give Jerry much of a reason to let him control everything about this team either.
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