So why did the Dallas Cowboys take so long to move on from Jason Garrett?
In the end, the Dallas Cowboys said they tried their best to ensure that Jason Garrett’s separation from the organization that he had spent nearly the last 10 years with would be as smooth as possible.
Yes, it was a foregone conclusion that Garrett, following 9½ seasons as head coach, would not receive another contract extension. Garrett’s tenure included four 8-8 seasons and even more failed expectations given the talent level that the team had amassed.
Still, team owner Jerry Jones said he sought to handle Garrett’s departure with as much care and concern as possible. So on the day that incoming head coach Mike McCarthy was formally introduced, Jones took some time to address the Garrett situation.
“Of the 30 years I’ve been with the Cowboys, I’ve written a check to the Garretts — all but two years,” Jones said at Wednesday’s press conference. “I’ve had a great 30 years around the Garrett family.”
Before Garrett’s time as coach. he was the Cowboys backup quarterback in ’90s. Beyond that, Garrett’s late father Jim was a long-time scout, and Jason’s brother Judd works in the scouting department. So Jones felt the team just he couldn’t dispatch a statement terminating the coach after the last game of the season.
“I do not only respect what he brought, [he] helped [build] what we’re sitting in, [he] helped what we’re doing,” Jones said. “Their family has been a part of that in their own way. I felt strongly about that, and we all wanted this to have a very nice, if possible under the circumstances, soft landing.”
Some thought that the care and concern had turned to disrespect once it became known that the Cowboys had interviewed Marvin Lewis and McCarthy last weekend before officially announcing that they were moving on from Garrett. But the team released a statement Sunday evening saying that Garrett was not going to be brought back. By Monday morning, news of McCarthy’s 12-hour, Saturday-into-Sunday interview turned job offer turned job acceptance had broken.
The Cowboys said everything was above board, with Garrett having knowledge of what was going on throughout the process.
“We’ve had communication with Jason every step of the way, and we wanted to be very respectful,” said team vice president Stephen Jones. “And pretty much all of our action was in line with what Jason wanted. We have nothing but the utmost respect for him, and we used his timeline, and he understood that we were having to do our job too.”
Stephen Jones said there was never a misunderstanding regarding the Cowboys’ intentions, as “he knew we were moving down the road with other coaches.”
In fact, when told that the Cowboys were going to be interviewing McCarthy, it was Garrett who offered a ringing endorsement. The act underscores the type of character that Garrett has always displayed. “‘You’re not going to meet anybody more special than Mike,” Jerry Jones recalled Garrett saying. “’I love his story. I love him, he’s great.’
“To give you an idea of a class act, that’s it right there,” Jones said.
