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Jerry Jones talks Tom Landry firing
Updated: February 23, 2014, 4:08 PM ET
By Todd Archer | ESPN.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tuesday marks the 25th anniversary of Jerry Jones' purchase of the Dallas Cowboys.
Jones not only bought the team and Texas Stadium from H.R. Bum Bright for $140 million, but he also fired the only coach the Cowboys had ever known in Tom Landry.
With hindsight, Jones said on Sunday from the NFL scouting combine that he should not have jettisoned Landry at the time. The move proved correct with Jimmy Johnson coaching the Cowboys to Super Bowl wins in 1992 and '93, but Jones felt like he acted too impatiently.
"If I had a chance to do it over again I would've waited a year and just got my feet on the ground a little bit more and probably just gone with the staff that we had and then later made the ultimate change that I made," Jones said.
Bright offered to fire Landry, who oversaw three straight losing seasons, but Jones declined. Some long-time Cowboys fans and observers have not forgiven Jones for firing Landry.
"He did insist that, 'I should make this change. You shouldn't. You should have a clean slate. I will make the change,'" Jones said. "I wanted to and felt that it was pretty obvious that changes were being made because I was taking the team, and I wanted to look coach Landry in the eye, visit with him about that rather than having it done just through the actual purchase closing procedure that would normally come. But that would've been something that when I look back at hindsight, I could've taken Bum up on his offer to make those changes."
Updated: February 23, 2014, 4:08 PM ET
By Todd Archer | ESPN.com
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tuesday marks the 25th anniversary of Jerry Jones' purchase of the Dallas Cowboys.
Jones not only bought the team and Texas Stadium from H.R. Bum Bright for $140 million, but he also fired the only coach the Cowboys had ever known in Tom Landry.
With hindsight, Jones said on Sunday from the NFL scouting combine that he should not have jettisoned Landry at the time. The move proved correct with Jimmy Johnson coaching the Cowboys to Super Bowl wins in 1992 and '93, but Jones felt like he acted too impatiently.
"If I had a chance to do it over again I would've waited a year and just got my feet on the ground a little bit more and probably just gone with the staff that we had and then later made the ultimate change that I made," Jones said.
Bright offered to fire Landry, who oversaw three straight losing seasons, but Jones declined. Some long-time Cowboys fans and observers have not forgiven Jones for firing Landry.
"He did insist that, 'I should make this change. You shouldn't. You should have a clean slate. I will make the change,'" Jones said. "I wanted to and felt that it was pretty obvious that changes were being made because I was taking the team, and I wanted to look coach Landry in the eye, visit with him about that rather than having it done just through the actual purchase closing procedure that would normally come. But that would've been something that when I look back at hindsight, I could've taken Bum up on his offer to make those changes."
