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Tim Cowlishaw / Columnist
Meet the new Jerry. Same as the old Jerry?
Few things are more widely discussed by the media and at the same time more poorly misunderstood than Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the power he wields over his head coaches. In particular, the coach's ability (or inability) to hire assistants is a source of constant debate.
This came up again Thursday when, during Jason Garrett's news conference at Cowboys Stadium, Jones stepped to the microphone while his new head coach was talking and told the media that Garrett would have power over the hiring of assistants.
The notion is that Garrett is getting unprecedented power or that this is some sort of "new Jerry" as the owner suggested in his dissertation about his willingness to change on a month by month basis.
Jones has long fought the prevailing media notion that Jimmy Johnson ran everything at Valley Ranch during his five years here and that once Johnson left, everything changed regarding Jones and his interactions with coaches.
But I know for a fact -- at least, to my untrained legal eye it appeared to be a fact -- that Johnson had the famous "final say" over the hiring and firing of assistant coaches, trainer and some other staff positions during his time as Cowboys head coach.
It was during the Super Bowl run after the 1993 season that Jones and Johnson got into some sort of little spit fight. I don't recall the subject. It wasn't anything terribly important but that didn't keep Johnson from getting worked up about it.
As the Morning News beat writer at the time, I was then pulled into the coach's office and shown the paragraph in his contract that said Johnson held the authority over hiring his assistants.
As contracts tend to be, it was written in legalese that could have been interpreted another way. I assume what meant one thing to Jimmy meant another entirely to Jerry, but I don't know that. Clearly, Johnson had some sort of legal control over the makings of his coaching staff.
Now that certainly changed to some degree during the next 10 years and -- at least we all think -- it changed again when Bill Parcells came to Valley Ranch.
But I think there are two basic misconceptions about all of this.
One is that Jones not only has the power but makes all the key decisions for the Cowboys. That's never been the case other than to say that, yes, he signs off on decisions because they involve money and that's what owners do. Mostly, I think Jones just wants to be viewed as part of the process, and as time passed after he bought the team and learned the ways of the NFL, he became much more directly involved.
When he first owned the team and I would sit outside his office waiting to meet with him, I could hear him on the phone all the time conducting oil business and other matters with his longtime partner Mike McCoy. I'm not saying there was anything wrong with that. He was simply a new owner in the NFL who still had a hand in a number of business operations.
But for years now, Jones has been all about the Cowboys and their organization.
I think the other misconception is that most NFL owners who keep a much lower public profile are not involved or don't "meddle" as Jones is seen to do. It makes no sense that that would be true in any way. When millions of dollars are at stake and it's your money? You get involved.
Having said that, Jones' role as general manager is fundamentally different from every team other than the forever poorly run Cincinnati Bengals. And in that role, the controversial moves that included things such as hiring Garrett as coordinator before he hired Wade Phillips that will haunt Jones with Cowboys fans until he shows that with the latest switch of head coaches, he has truly changed.
Meet the new Jerry. Same as the old Jerry?
Few things are more widely discussed by the media and at the same time more poorly misunderstood than Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the power he wields over his head coaches. In particular, the coach's ability (or inability) to hire assistants is a source of constant debate.
This came up again Thursday when, during Jason Garrett's news conference at Cowboys Stadium, Jones stepped to the microphone while his new head coach was talking and told the media that Garrett would have power over the hiring of assistants.
The notion is that Garrett is getting unprecedented power or that this is some sort of "new Jerry" as the owner suggested in his dissertation about his willingness to change on a month by month basis.
Jones has long fought the prevailing media notion that Jimmy Johnson ran everything at Valley Ranch during his five years here and that once Johnson left, everything changed regarding Jones and his interactions with coaches.
But I know for a fact -- at least, to my untrained legal eye it appeared to be a fact -- that Johnson had the famous "final say" over the hiring and firing of assistant coaches, trainer and some other staff positions during his time as Cowboys head coach.
It was during the Super Bowl run after the 1993 season that Jones and Johnson got into some sort of little spit fight. I don't recall the subject. It wasn't anything terribly important but that didn't keep Johnson from getting worked up about it.
As the Morning News beat writer at the time, I was then pulled into the coach's office and shown the paragraph in his contract that said Johnson held the authority over hiring his assistants.
As contracts tend to be, it was written in legalese that could have been interpreted another way. I assume what meant one thing to Jimmy meant another entirely to Jerry, but I don't know that. Clearly, Johnson had some sort of legal control over the makings of his coaching staff.
Now that certainly changed to some degree during the next 10 years and -- at least we all think -- it changed again when Bill Parcells came to Valley Ranch.
But I think there are two basic misconceptions about all of this.
One is that Jones not only has the power but makes all the key decisions for the Cowboys. That's never been the case other than to say that, yes, he signs off on decisions because they involve money and that's what owners do. Mostly, I think Jones just wants to be viewed as part of the process, and as time passed after he bought the team and learned the ways of the NFL, he became much more directly involved.
When he first owned the team and I would sit outside his office waiting to meet with him, I could hear him on the phone all the time conducting oil business and other matters with his longtime partner Mike McCoy. I'm not saying there was anything wrong with that. He was simply a new owner in the NFL who still had a hand in a number of business operations.
But for years now, Jones has been all about the Cowboys and their organization.
I think the other misconception is that most NFL owners who keep a much lower public profile are not involved or don't "meddle" as Jones is seen to do. It makes no sense that that would be true in any way. When millions of dollars are at stake and it's your money? You get involved.
Having said that, Jones' role as general manager is fundamentally different from every team other than the forever poorly run Cincinnati Bengals. And in that role, the controversial moves that included things such as hiring Garrett as coordinator before he hired Wade Phillips that will haunt Jones with Cowboys fans until he shows that with the latest switch of head coaches, he has truly changed.