The Cowboys released a statement Sunday afternoon that said they weren’t going to offer coach Jason Garrett an extension on his contract that expires on January 14. Less than 24 hours later owner Jerry Jones announced the hiring of former Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy.
A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that McCarthy had stayed over Jones’ house on Saturday night. “Once you stay at Jerry’s house, he doesn’t lose his guy,” the source said. McCarthy had interviewed for the Jets’ job, and passed on an opportunity to interview for Tampa and Arizona prior to this season. After the season concluded the Pittsburgh native spoke with the Giants, Browns and Panthers about their head coaching vacancies.
The organization only interviewed McCarthy and former Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis. Their approach was a lot different in 2010 when they interviewed ten candidates before hiring Wade Phillips. Garrett had been head coach since 2010 after taking over for Phillips.
Heading into the season there were high expectations and to miss the playoffs with this roster was simply unacceptable. Unfortunately, Garrett was the scapegoat as the team finished second in the NFC East with an 8-8 record. He leaves Dallas with an overall record of 85-67 and a 2-3 record in the postseason.
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McCarthy coached Green Bay from 2005-2018 finishing with a 125-77-2 record and a 10-8 playoff record. Under his tenure the Packers reached the postseason nine out of his 13 seasons and in 2011 he won Super Bowl 45 inside his new home, AT&T Stadium.
His last two years in Green Bay were tough, however, as the team missed the playoffs in 2017 and fired McCarthy after 12 games in 2018. His relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers began to deteriorate as former players said Rodgers had allegedly changed plays that McCarthy had called during games because he had lost faith in the coach’s strategy.
Despite those reports, McCarthy is often credited with assisting Rodgers in his development. The Cowboys are hoping he can do the same for quarterback Dak Prescott.
