5 Comparisons: Cowboys' Jason Garrett vs Super Bowl head coaches
By: Donrey Mariñas
Jason Garrett and his staff have missed the playoffs for the fifth time in his seven seasons as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. There was plenty of speculation by media and fans alike 2017’s failure could be it for the Princeton alumnus. Ultimately the Cowboys front office elected to stand by Garrett for at least one more year, citing the importance of continuity.
At what point does continuity turn into redundancy? When will enough be enough, and at what point does Jerry Jones need to cut his losses?
Here’s a look at how the 2016 NFL Coach of the Year stacks up against the 14 coaches who have won their first Super Bowl since after the salary cap was implemented, analyzing age, tenure, resume, roster building and inherited talent.
Age
Average age of first championship: 50.5
Garrett: 51
Garrett is above the average. While not necessarily a detriment, it should be taken into consideration only six of the 14 are older than Garrett is now.
Barry Switzer (DAL)
Dick Vermeil (STL)
Tom Coughlin (NYG)
Pete Carroll (SEA)
Gary Kubiak (DEN)
Average time for coach to win championship from hire: 4 seasons
Garrett total HC time with Dallas: 7 seasons
3 of the 14 first-time winners of Super Bowls were hired prior to the cap era. Of those hired since, five years is the longest amount of time it took any of them to win. The slow pokes were Tony Dungy (IND), Mike McCarthy (GB) and John Harbaugh (BAL).
The average was four years, with Jon Gruden (TAM) and Kubiak winning it all in their first year at the helm. Looking at this, the data suggests that if Garrett hasn’t figure it out by now, his eighth season, he never will.
Average experience prior to hire: 12.76 seasons
Garrett: 6
At the time Garrett was promoted from offensive coordinator, he had six years of NFL coaching experience; two with the Miami Dolphins as QB coach before coming to Dallas.
Only Mike Tomlin (PIT) had as little NFL experience as Garrett and has ended up taking home a title.
Only one coach had less experience when he was hired, Dallas’ Switzer, who was hired with absolutely no NFL locations on his resume.
Average selections between hire and championship: 24.48
draft picks made by Cowboys under Garrett: 57
Most of the time when a new head coach is named it is to turn a team around, and the best way to do that is to draft well. Drafting well should establish a foundation and culture for the team that is in line with the Head Coach’s vision for success.
This April’s draft will mark the eighth time that Garrett has sat in the HC’s seat in the Cowboys draft day war room. In his tenure he has selected more than double the average amount it took for the winning coaches to form a Championship squad.
Garrett has made more selections than any of the 14 coaches at the time of their championship win, 10 more picks than the McCarthy, who made 47 before winning his first title. When it came to the average selection per year, the average championship coach made 7.96 selections each year while the former Cowboys QB made an average of 8.14.
Average number of Pro-Bowl players when hired: 3.6
Average number of Pro-Bowl players on Championship teams: 5.5
Pro-Bowl players on roster when Garrett was hired: 6
Witten, Matt McBriar, DeMarcus Ware, Andre Gurode, Miles Austin, and Jay Ratliff were all named to the 2010 Pro-Bowl the year Dallas finished 6-10 and fired HC Wade Phillips mid-way through the season. The following January, Garrett was officially promoted to full-time coach.
Since his elevation, Garrett has fielded just two teams which produced as many or more Pro-Bowl players than when he was first hired. In 2014 Dallas had eight Pro Bowlers and in 2016 had six. Only Switzer and the 95 Dallas Cowboys had more Pro-Bwolers with 10 and are the only team in the study that has won a Super Bowl with double-digit Pro-Bowl selections.
Only Kubiak and Switzer inherited more Pro-Bowlers than Garrett, while Gruden and Brian Billick both had six in their first years as HC.
