Dallas Cowboys introduce Mike McCarthy as ninth coach in franchise history
And Mike McCarthy makes nine.
What began with the legendary Tom Landry in 1960 has now been given to McCarthy in 2020.
He was introduced Wednesday as the ninth coach in the rich history of the Dallas Cowboys at the team’s headquarters, and he is the latest charged with returning the franchise to its past glory.
“One of our primary goals in selecting the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys was to focus on a proven team builder and winner, someone who has a proven track record of winning, not only consistently but at the highest level,” an excited and emotional owner Jerry Jones said before more than 200 media members, staffers and players at the Ford Center at The Star. “In Mike McCarthy, we found a coach who not only checked those boxes, but also has the experience of taking an NFL team to the biggest stage, a Super Bowl, and completing the job.”
It will be a refreshed and recharged McCarthy, who comes to the Cowboys after taking a year off following his departure from the Green Bay Packers in 2018. McCarthy’s 13 seasons there included a 2010 Super Bowl title and eight straight trips to the playoffs before going 7-9 and 4-7-1 in his final two years.
McCarthy has the experience of being entrusted with carrying on the tradition of a historic franchise and is now motivated to remake his own legacy.
“I just want to tell you the importance and the understanding of how to protect and be the steward of this iconic franchise,” McCarthy said. “I’m really looking forward to doing that.
“This past year has been a gift,” he continued. “It’s been a gift in a lot of ways. It’s been a gift for my family and I —Jessica, our children, but it’s been a gift with a purpose and that purpose for me, personally, was to be a better husband, a better father and, fortunately, to have the time to work on being a better coach.
“I’m just going to say this, and to the fans, the commitment will be unwavering. I won my first Super Bowl here in North Texas at AT&T Stadium. I just want to tell you I am anxious and excited to get to work on winning the next Super Bowl for the Dallas Cowboys.”
The Cowboys — who have not been the NFC title game, let alone the Super Bowl, since the last of their five Super Bowl titles in 1995 — are hoping it will come together in short order.
Jones wanted an experienced and proven winner to replace the fired Jason Garrett, as he believes the Cowboys are a team built to win now. He believes Dallas will benefit from his time away from the game and his departure from Green Bay.
“You’ve got a choice,” Jones said. “You can get in that foxhole with somebody that hasn’t been shot at ... Or you can get in there with somebody that’s been shot at, [gets] hit and [is] still going. Now that’s the one I want to be in there with.”
In addition to the West Coast offense, McCarthy is expected to bring discipline and accountability to the Cowboys’ locker room.
While it took the Joneses seven days to officially move on from Garrett following his fourth 8-8 seasons in 9 1/2 years as head coach, the Cowboys quickly identified McCarthy as the man to lead the team into the next decade.
He interviewed for 12 hours Saturday, stayed overnight and then accepted the job almost immediately, eventually agreeing to a five-year contract.
McCarthy was smitten by Jones and the lure of the Cowboys franchise.
“Jerry is telling a story about the purchase of the Dallas Cowboys and at the end of the story he leans over to me and he grabs me by the forearm, and reaches out to shake my hand and he says, ‘You need to be the coach of the Dallas Cowboys,’” McCarthy said of their conversation over the weekend. “I jumped up and hugged him. I’ll stop right there. We had a hell of a time.
“Now that’s a moment. And that’s a story I’ll be telling the rest of my life.”
Jones’ version is a little different as he said his sons Stephen and Jerry Jr. were sold on McCarthy from the start and were wondering what was taking him so long to offer the job.
“It’s obvious, I did hear bells,” Jones said. “My sister explained to my dad one time why she wanted to divorce. Dad loved her husband and he said, ‘What’s gotten into you?’ And she said, ‘I don’t hear bells.’ He said, ‘Bells? I haven’t hear bells for the last 30 years’.
“The bottom line is, I heard bells.”
And so the marriage began and was consummated.
McCarthy has since gone about the business of making the transition to Cowboys coach, identifying his three coordinators in Kellen Moore (offense), Mike Nolan (defense) and Jim Fassel (special teams), as well as hiring Jim Tomsula as the defensive line coach.
That Jones is giving him full power to hire his own staff and not keep any holdovers from Garrett’s regime speaks volumes of what of he thinks of his new coach.
What’s also true is that there will be no honeymoon.
McCarthy is expected to win now and revive that Cowboys championship tradition.
So what started with Landry and continued with Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips and Garrett has now been entrusted to McCarthy.
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 3:04 PM.
