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By Jean-Jacques Taylor
IRVING — Rob Ryan has only been a member of Jason Garrett’s staff for a few weeks. Already, some are fretting about the possibility of Ryan leaving after one season, if he does a good job.
Who cares?
Good teams, Super Bowl teams, are always losing coaches.
If the Cowboys actually have a coach or two in demand, it means Dallas is winning football games and its coaching staff is getting its share of the credit. There is zero wrong with that.
If we’re honest, for just a moment, you don’t really want a coaching staff that stays intact for too long. Cohesion is good, but too much allows complacency to infect the staff. On good staffs, position coaches leave to become coordinators and coordinators leave to become head coaches.
This seems like a good time to mention in the last three seasons, the only coaches on the Cowboys’ staff who have left for promotions are Todd Grantham (Georgia defensive coordinator) and Paul Pasqualoni (Connecticut head coach).
Let’s compare that to assistants under Bill Parcells: Todd Haley (Kansas City ), Sean Payton (New Orleans), Tony Sparano (Miami) and Pasqualoni (Connecticut) are currently head coaches. Mike Zimmer (Cincinnati), Chris Palmer (Tennessee) and David Lee (Mississippi) are coordinators.
During the glory days of the early ’90s, Norv Turner, Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis were part of Jimmy Johnson’s coaching tree. During the Tom Landry era, Mike Ditka, Dick Nolan and Dan Reeves were among those who became head coaches.
Get the picture?
Garrett, it seems, has aced his first test: putting a quality staff together.
You should feel good about the staff Garrett has assembled — and not just because, thankfully, Jerry Jones didn’t provide any help.
Think about it, Garrett poached receivers coach Jimmy Robinson off the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers . He hired Mike Woicik, the NFL’s best strength coach, and he would’ve added the secondary coach off the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers, if Ray Horton hadn’t opted to be Arizona’s defensive coordinator.
We all know about Ryan’s reputation for putting an aggressive, attacking defense together. And if you don’t believe he’s a good coach, then he’ll certainly tell you he’s, “a great [expletive ] coach.”
And Ryan doesn’t have enough adjectives to describe how much he likes new linebackers coach Matt Eberflus, who worked with him in Cleveland. Julius Peppers, one of the NFL’s best defensive players, gives defensive line coach Brian Baker strong reviews.
Garrett is taking ownership of the team — something that never happened under Phillips. We always assumed, correctly, Jerry called most of the shots under Wade Phillips. That happens when the owner hires the offensive coordinator before the head coach.
Garrett made the decision to keep every member of this staff. Garrett, perhaps taking a cue from Parcells, is becoming the face of the franchise.
He’s making the hires. He’ll be the only voice we hear from the coaching staff until training camp begins. The owner has taken a lower profile, and not just because of the fiasco that was Super Bowl XLV.
We all recognize Garrett was part of the problem with the Cowboys ’ 1-7 start, which ultimately cost Phillips his job. That said, you’re blind or stubborn, if you don’t see there’s a difference between Garrett the offensive coordinator and the Garrett we see as head coach.
Other coaches see it.
No way Robinson leaves the Packers, if he doesn’t think the Cowboys are ready to win. The same goes for Woicik. Or Ryan.
Baker, who aspires to be a college head coach one day, left North Carolina after a month to join Garrett’s staff. The new guys like Garrett’s attention to detail. His intelligence. His presence.
They think, Garrett is the league’s next big thing.
It’s way too early for anyone to know. Only time and victories will tell us for sure.
But he’s off to a good start.
IRVING — Rob Ryan has only been a member of Jason Garrett’s staff for a few weeks. Already, some are fretting about the possibility of Ryan leaving after one season, if he does a good job.
Who cares?
Good teams, Super Bowl teams, are always losing coaches.
If the Cowboys actually have a coach or two in demand, it means Dallas is winning football games and its coaching staff is getting its share of the credit. There is zero wrong with that.
If we’re honest, for just a moment, you don’t really want a coaching staff that stays intact for too long. Cohesion is good, but too much allows complacency to infect the staff. On good staffs, position coaches leave to become coordinators and coordinators leave to become head coaches.
This seems like a good time to mention in the last three seasons, the only coaches on the Cowboys’ staff who have left for promotions are Todd Grantham (Georgia defensive coordinator) and Paul Pasqualoni (Connecticut head coach).
Let’s compare that to assistants under Bill Parcells: Todd Haley (Kansas City ), Sean Payton (New Orleans), Tony Sparano (Miami) and Pasqualoni (Connecticut) are currently head coaches. Mike Zimmer (Cincinnati), Chris Palmer (Tennessee) and David Lee (Mississippi) are coordinators.
During the glory days of the early ’90s, Norv Turner, Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis were part of Jimmy Johnson’s coaching tree. During the Tom Landry era, Mike Ditka, Dick Nolan and Dan Reeves were among those who became head coaches.
Get the picture?
Garrett, it seems, has aced his first test: putting a quality staff together.
You should feel good about the staff Garrett has assembled — and not just because, thankfully, Jerry Jones didn’t provide any help.
Think about it, Garrett poached receivers coach Jimmy Robinson off the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers . He hired Mike Woicik, the NFL’s best strength coach, and he would’ve added the secondary coach off the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers, if Ray Horton hadn’t opted to be Arizona’s defensive coordinator.
We all know about Ryan’s reputation for putting an aggressive, attacking defense together. And if you don’t believe he’s a good coach, then he’ll certainly tell you he’s, “a great [expletive ] coach.”
And Ryan doesn’t have enough adjectives to describe how much he likes new linebackers coach Matt Eberflus, who worked with him in Cleveland. Julius Peppers, one of the NFL’s best defensive players, gives defensive line coach Brian Baker strong reviews.
Garrett is taking ownership of the team — something that never happened under Phillips. We always assumed, correctly, Jerry called most of the shots under Wade Phillips. That happens when the owner hires the offensive coordinator before the head coach.
Garrett made the decision to keep every member of this staff. Garrett, perhaps taking a cue from Parcells, is becoming the face of the franchise.
He’s making the hires. He’ll be the only voice we hear from the coaching staff until training camp begins. The owner has taken a lower profile, and not just because of the fiasco that was Super Bowl XLV.
We all recognize Garrett was part of the problem with the Cowboys ’ 1-7 start, which ultimately cost Phillips his job. That said, you’re blind or stubborn, if you don’t see there’s a difference between Garrett the offensive coordinator and the Garrett we see as head coach.
Other coaches see it.
No way Robinson leaves the Packers, if he doesn’t think the Cowboys are ready to win. The same goes for Woicik. Or Ryan.
Baker, who aspires to be a college head coach one day, left North Carolina after a month to join Garrett’s staff. The new guys like Garrett’s attention to detail. His intelligence. His presence.
They think, Garrett is the league’s next big thing.
It’s way too early for anyone to know. Only time and victories will tell us for sure.
But he’s off to a good start.
