Cowboys Scouting Staff

[junk]

Does anyone have a recent media guide? I have a theory that I wanted to investigate about the Cowboys scouting staff and I couldn't find a lot about them.

Have you noticed that the team likes to pick a lot of the same positions over and over again? Plus those same positions tend to be rated higher on their board? TE, LB, CB, RB, WR, in particular?

I think this is partially due to the fact that those positions can get on the field sooner in various sub-packages/STs, so they team tends to value their contributions more. However, I think it may also play into the scouts backgrounds. For that same reason, it may explain why the team is putrid at drafting other positions.

Ciskowski - Before he became a scout, he did some coaching.....DBs, OL, DL, TEs.
Chris Hall - Can't find much on him. Doesn't appear to have ever played or coached.
Sam Garza - Scab NFL QB, CFL QB, 3 years as a QB coach at UTEP
Walter Juliff - Doesn't really seem to have any significant playing or coaching background. A few years as a graduate assistant and HS coach who worked with punters.
Drew Fabianich - Played QB, former defensive coach
John Wojciechowski - Former DE
Bill Dekraker - Can't find anything about him playing or coaching
Mitch LaPoint - Can't find anything about him playing or coaching

I guess my overall thought is that they really don't have anyone that has played OL, so it is no wonder they can't scout them. Also troublesome is how few scouts for Dallas even played or coached in the past.

Compare this to SF, whose Director of Player Personnel is a former offensive tackle. Their director of college scouting is a former center. Their national scout is a former All Big 10 offensive lineman. Their GM is a former DL coach. They also have another former DL coach, former NFL RB and a former college LBer. I couldn't find anyone with a secondary or receiving background.....arguably two of the areas that they are weakest.

Anyway, I found this interesting. A few minutes of internet research leads to some pretty clear trends about why teams may fail to scout certain positions. You'd think that may jump out to them as well.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Does anyone have a recent media guide? I have a theory that I wanted to investigate about the Cowboys scouting staff and I couldn't find a lot about them.

Have you noticed that the team likes to pick a lot of the same positions over and over again? Plus those same positions tend to be rated higher on their board? TE, LB, CB, RB, WR, in particular?

I think this is partially due to the fact that those positions can get on the field sooner in various sub-packages/STs, so they team tends to value their contributions more. However, I think it may also play into the scouts backgrounds. For that same reason, it may explain why the team is putrid at drafting other positions.

Ciskowski - Before he became a scout, he did some coaching.....DBs, OL, DL, TEs.
Chris Hall - Can't find much on him. Doesn't appear to have ever played or coached.
Sam Garza - Scab NFL QB, CFL QB, 3 years as a QB coach at UTEP
Walter Juliff - Doesn't really seem to have any significant playing or coaching background. A few years as a graduate assistant and HS coach who worked with punters.
Drew Fabianich - Played QB, former defensive coach
John Wojciechowski - Former DE
Bill Dekraker - Can't find anything about him playing or coaching
Mitch LaPoint - Can't find anything about him playing or coaching

I guess my overall thought is that they really don't have anyone that has played OL, so it is no wonder they can't scout them. Also troublesome is how few scouts for Dallas even played or coached in the past.

Compare this to SF, whose Director of Player Personnel is a former offensive tackle. Their director of college scouting is a former center. Their national scout is a former All Big 10 offensive lineman. Their GM is a former DL coach. They also have another former DL coach, former NFL RB and a former college LBer. I couldn't find anyone with a secondary or receiving background.....arguably two of the areas that they are weakest.

Anyway, I found this interesting. A few minutes of internet research leads to some pretty clear trends about why teams may fail to scout certain positions. You'd think that may jump out to them as well.

I don't know that coaching or playing football really has any impact on your abilities as a scout. I'd rather get some smart new blood in here that can think a little differently. I feel like we still have a lot of old blood in our scouting department. The fact that they think they are only capable of rating like 120 players in each draft just continually pisses me off.

 

[junk]

I don't know that coaching or playing football really has any impact on your abilities as a scout. I'd rather get some smart new blood in here that can think a little differently. I feel like we still have a lot of old blood in our scouting department. The fact that they think they are only capable of rating like 120 players in each draft just continually pisses me off.

Really? You don't think playing or coaching the game would have any impact on your ability to spot talent?

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Really? You don't think playing or coaching the game would have any impact on your ability to spot talent?

Not really. Most players are absolutely clueless when it comes to spotting talent. Coaching could impact it a little but I'd take a guy who has spent 10 years in scouting over a guy who has spent 10 years in coaching. I think you learn a hell of a lot more about scouting by scouting then you do by coaching.

 

[boozeman]

The 2012 media guide is here...

Our staff consists of the guys you mentioned plus:

Jim Abrams - West Coast area scout; former LB coaching assistant; longtime scout with TB and SF
Kevin Simon - Midwest area scout; former NFL LB
Justin Stucky - Combine scout; former safety at Kansas

Dekraker is the Northeast area scout; Mitch LaPoint handles the Southeast; Garza is Southwest area scout.

Fabianich is a national scout along with Juliff.

Director of Football Administration Todd Williams is a former JUCO QB.

All in all, I can't stand the fact many of these guys have been hanging around since 2001 or even before.

It is also clear that some guys tend to scream louder it appears...LaPoint probably gets a lot of attention as we seem to ignore most regions in favor of the southeast.

I don't know if playing matters, but I do know these guys look like lifers and every guy in a high level position in our scouting department has been with Jones forever.

 

[skidadl]

Not really. Most players are absolutely clueless when it comes to spotting talent. Coaching could impact it a little but I'd take a guy who has spent 10 years in scouting over a guy who has spent 10 years in coaching. I think you learn a hell of a lot more about scouting by scouting then you do by coaching.

I tend to agree. It seems like every guy that I have been around that was a good player they seem terrible at coaching.

 

[Cotton]

Not really. Most players are absolutely clueless when it comes to spotting talent. Coaching could impact it a little but I'd take a guy who has spent 10 years in scouting over a guy who has spent 10 years in coaching. I think you learn a hell of a lot more about scouting by scouting then you do by coaching.

I agree about playing not lending itself to good scouting, but I disagree that coaching won't lend itself to good scouting.

 

[Simpleton]

Have you noticed that the team likes to pick a lot of the same positions over and over again? Plus those same positions tend to be rated higher on their board? TE, LB, CB, RB, WR, in particular?

I think this is partially due to the fact that those positions can get on the field sooner in various sub-packages/STs, so they team tends to value their contributions more.

I've been saying this for a while, I think the organization artificially rates these positions higher because they can get them on the field faster in different packages, also on special teams whereas linemen don't really contribute in that manner.

 

[junk]

Ha, thanks for the link to the media guide, Booze.



I'm not sure how to make that bigger, but click on it.

No one with OL playing experience on the scouting staff. Ciskowski is the only one with OL coaching experience.

Amazing how many scouts have zero playing or scouting experience.

 

[boozeman]

Ha, thanks for the link to the media guide, Booze.

View attachment 49

Kind of really really pisses you off, does it not?

 

[junk]

Kind of really really pisses you off, does it not?

Indeed. I was scrolling through that thing and saw this full paged atrocity and was like "WTF"