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Cowboys’ Garrett deserves rich reward for handling Jerry
By Randy Galloway -
Special to the Star-Telegram
01/17/2015 5:07 PM
| Updated: 01/17/2015 11:32 PM
The new contract last week for free agent Jason Garrett didn’t move any seismograph needles, not even at Valley Ranch, which is located in Irving, the new earthquake center of the world.
This was a win-win deal waiting to happen.
As long as Garrett wanted to come back, which he obviously did, then he should have been back, and at a hefty amount of money, which Jerry “Executive of the Year” Jones gladly forked over.
Do the math here. Five-year deal for $30 million.
This contract prompted several readers to ask me, by email, if I’d work for Jerry Jones for $6 million a year (My readers are very good at multiplication).
The answer:
Hell, no, I wouldn’t work for that football idiot at 6 mil a year. It’s not worth the aggravation, or the cost of Pepcid AC.
However, I would have definitely signed the contract as Garrett did, but done so with an escape clause. It’s a great plan, by the way:
Repeatedly insult Jerry at bars across America by not acknowledging his attempted toasts.
Refuse to share any TV face time with Jerry, especially the ESPN war-room cameras during the draft.
Ignore Jerry and his pal, Chris Christie, when they wander around on the pregame sideline.
Do all of the above, and I would be fired after the first year. Right, Jimmy?
Again, do the math. With a guaranteed contract, I will have worked one year for Jerry, been fired, and still collected $30 million. One year with Jerry equals 30 mil. My stomach could stomach that.
But with Garrett remaining the seventh head coach to work for Jerry since 1989, one truth remains constant in this current relationship.
Red J is by far the best personality fit for Jerry of any head coach who has come our way. Forget about football expertise, and in this case, you even have to go back burner with the most basic of all coaching concepts, the ability to create a team bond through motivation and mutual respect with players.
Garrett has the expertise. He has created that team bond.
“Handling” Jerry, however, is, and always has been, the biggest challenge facing any head coach who has come our way. It’s a joke that it has to be that way, but that’s the way it is.
The coach cannot be Jerry’s puppet. That’s the No. 1 downfall. On the flip side, however, you cannot be a public Jerry antagonist, unless, of course, you are Jimmy and you just don’t give a flip.
Jason knows how to walk that fine line. He, despite the opinion of many fans, is no puppet. But he keeps his disagreements with Jerry out of the public, and more important, Garrett accepts and uses “help” from others in the organization, such as Stephen Jones, to now get basically what he wants.
It’s shameful, for instance, that Garrett had to be in his fourth year as the head coach to hire his own assistants or, specifically, put the offensive and defensive coordinators in place. The results, of course, were staggeringly successful this season, based on preseason expectations.
Then again, Jason was also his own worst enemy in refusing for his first two years to become a real head coach instead of a head coach consumed by offensive play-calling and Tony Romo hand-holding.
Red J wouldn’t even take the advice of his mentor, Jimmy Johnson, in giving up OC duties. Actually, it was Jerry who took Jimmy’s advice and forced Red J into the walk-around head-coach job — a good executive move, but then Jerry turned around and also made the staff assignments for 2013.
Garrett had to go to the wall with Jerry to retake and remake his staff for this season, and the Scott Linehan hire for offense, combined with the Rod Marinelli promotion to defensive coordinator, was an exacta move that paid off big time.
Granted, for the Cowboys and Garrett to build off the 2014 success, it will require some more magic next season, but the guy who should be “working” with Jerry in attempting to do so is the guy whom Jerry gave the hefty contract last week.
“Handling” Jerry. That’s the hardest part of coaching the Cowboys. Garrett does that better than anyone.
If I knew Clint Eastwood, now a successful movie director, I’d suggest his next project be a Jerry Jones flick.
My working title for that film: Jerry and All His Head Coaches.
Clint would have it all. Egomania. Genius. Bull-headed. Stupid. Really Stupid. And unlucky.
It was pure genius hiring Jimmy in ’89. Pure stupidity in going ego crazy while the Cowboys were winning Super Bowls with Jimmy.
It was pure genius hiring Bill Parcells, because Jerry needed a vote-getter for the bond election in Arlington for his Big Yard. It was pure stupidity in eventually driving off Bill over the signing of Eldorado Owens.
But Jerry was also unlucky with his timing on both Jimmy and Big Bill.
When the breakup with Jimmy happened in the spring of 1994, it was less than four months after Norv Turner had left the staff to be the head coach in Washington. It’s a guarantee there would have been another Dynasty Days Super Bowl if Norv had replaced Jimmy. Maybe two more.
Instead of Norv, here came Barry.
Then, when Big Bill departed, it was a mere year after Sean Payton had left the staff to take the New Orleans job. Instead of Payton, here came Wade Phillips.
I’d love to have seen Payton grooming a much younger quarterback at the time, Tony Romo.
Jerry and All His Head Coaches.
It’s been a mess for two decades.
But this one? Beyond this season’s success, Jason Garrett has a gift for “handling” Jerry.
For that alone, Red J is a bargain at 6 mil a year.
Leave a message for
Randy Galloway at
817-390-7697 or email him
at rnjgalloway@gmail.com.
By Randy Galloway -
Special to the Star-Telegram
01/17/2015 5:07 PM
| Updated: 01/17/2015 11:32 PM
The new contract last week for free agent Jason Garrett didn’t move any seismograph needles, not even at Valley Ranch, which is located in Irving, the new earthquake center of the world.
This was a win-win deal waiting to happen.
As long as Garrett wanted to come back, which he obviously did, then he should have been back, and at a hefty amount of money, which Jerry “Executive of the Year” Jones gladly forked over.
Do the math here. Five-year deal for $30 million.
This contract prompted several readers to ask me, by email, if I’d work for Jerry Jones for $6 million a year (My readers are very good at multiplication).
The answer:
Hell, no, I wouldn’t work for that football idiot at 6 mil a year. It’s not worth the aggravation, or the cost of Pepcid AC.
However, I would have definitely signed the contract as Garrett did, but done so with an escape clause. It’s a great plan, by the way:
Repeatedly insult Jerry at bars across America by not acknowledging his attempted toasts.
Refuse to share any TV face time with Jerry, especially the ESPN war-room cameras during the draft.
Ignore Jerry and his pal, Chris Christie, when they wander around on the pregame sideline.
Do all of the above, and I would be fired after the first year. Right, Jimmy?
Again, do the math. With a guaranteed contract, I will have worked one year for Jerry, been fired, and still collected $30 million. One year with Jerry equals 30 mil. My stomach could stomach that.
But with Garrett remaining the seventh head coach to work for Jerry since 1989, one truth remains constant in this current relationship.
Red J is by far the best personality fit for Jerry of any head coach who has come our way. Forget about football expertise, and in this case, you even have to go back burner with the most basic of all coaching concepts, the ability to create a team bond through motivation and mutual respect with players.
Garrett has the expertise. He has created that team bond.
“Handling” Jerry, however, is, and always has been, the biggest challenge facing any head coach who has come our way. It’s a joke that it has to be that way, but that’s the way it is.
The coach cannot be Jerry’s puppet. That’s the No. 1 downfall. On the flip side, however, you cannot be a public Jerry antagonist, unless, of course, you are Jimmy and you just don’t give a flip.
Jason knows how to walk that fine line. He, despite the opinion of many fans, is no puppet. But he keeps his disagreements with Jerry out of the public, and more important, Garrett accepts and uses “help” from others in the organization, such as Stephen Jones, to now get basically what he wants.
It’s shameful, for instance, that Garrett had to be in his fourth year as the head coach to hire his own assistants or, specifically, put the offensive and defensive coordinators in place. The results, of course, were staggeringly successful this season, based on preseason expectations.
Then again, Jason was also his own worst enemy in refusing for his first two years to become a real head coach instead of a head coach consumed by offensive play-calling and Tony Romo hand-holding.
Red J wouldn’t even take the advice of his mentor, Jimmy Johnson, in giving up OC duties. Actually, it was Jerry who took Jimmy’s advice and forced Red J into the walk-around head-coach job — a good executive move, but then Jerry turned around and also made the staff assignments for 2013.
Garrett had to go to the wall with Jerry to retake and remake his staff for this season, and the Scott Linehan hire for offense, combined with the Rod Marinelli promotion to defensive coordinator, was an exacta move that paid off big time.
Granted, for the Cowboys and Garrett to build off the 2014 success, it will require some more magic next season, but the guy who should be “working” with Jerry in attempting to do so is the guy whom Jerry gave the hefty contract last week.
“Handling” Jerry. That’s the hardest part of coaching the Cowboys. Garrett does that better than anyone.
If I knew Clint Eastwood, now a successful movie director, I’d suggest his next project be a Jerry Jones flick.
My working title for that film: Jerry and All His Head Coaches.
Clint would have it all. Egomania. Genius. Bull-headed. Stupid. Really Stupid. And unlucky.
It was pure genius hiring Jimmy in ’89. Pure stupidity in going ego crazy while the Cowboys were winning Super Bowls with Jimmy.
It was pure genius hiring Bill Parcells, because Jerry needed a vote-getter for the bond election in Arlington for his Big Yard. It was pure stupidity in eventually driving off Bill over the signing of Eldorado Owens.
But Jerry was also unlucky with his timing on both Jimmy and Big Bill.
When the breakup with Jimmy happened in the spring of 1994, it was less than four months after Norv Turner had left the staff to be the head coach in Washington. It’s a guarantee there would have been another Dynasty Days Super Bowl if Norv had replaced Jimmy. Maybe two more.
Instead of Norv, here came Barry.
Then, when Big Bill departed, it was a mere year after Sean Payton had left the staff to take the New Orleans job. Instead of Payton, here came Wade Phillips.
I’d love to have seen Payton grooming a much younger quarterback at the time, Tony Romo.
Jerry and All His Head Coaches.
It’s been a mess for two decades.
But this one? Beyond this season’s success, Jason Garrett has a gift for “handling” Jerry.
For that alone, Red J is a bargain at 6 mil a year.
Leave a message for
Randy Galloway at
817-390-7697 or email him
at rnjgalloway@gmail.com.
