CBS SPORTS (KFSM) – That didn’t take long at all for the Dallas Cowboys. Only one day after parting ways with longtime head coach Jason Garrett, the team has agreed to terms former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, a source tells CBS Sports, with Jay Glazer first to report the news.
This caps a week that began with the Cowboys being dismissed from the playoff picture and devolved into a circus act, the expectation having been since last Sunday that they would move on from Garrett, but they had yet to do so as the following weekend rolled around. To make matters that much more disconcerting, a source confirmed to me on Friday that McCarthy was on a flight to Dallas to meet with owner Jerry Jones and team exec Jerry Jones to interview for the position, although it wasn’t yet vacant.
The meeting with McCarthy went exceedingly well on Saturday, so much so he stayed over on Sunday to further discussions with the Joneses, and that’s when the rubber truly met the road. I’m told the elder Jones was so smitten with McCarthy he invited him to stay at his estate instead of going to a hotel, and it was that gesture that finally ended Garrett’s time in Dallas. The framing of the talks were such that McCarthy leveraged the interest of other teams — namely the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Carolina Panthers — to force the Joneses to finally make the call on Garrett.
In other words, it was very much a “show me you’re serious, and I’ll show you I am as well” dialogue.
Hours later, Garrett was gone, and only hours after that, a deal was on the table and agreed to by both sides. By the way, Garrett was lobbying to retain his job the entire time, while having the same agent as McCarthy — who was in talks with the Cowboys to iron out details for the latter.
Don’t be surprised if this finds its way to a Hollywood script in a few years.
McCarthy has a 125-77-2 (.618 win percentage) in 13 years with the Packers, winning six NFC North titles and making the playoffs nine times (including eight consecutive seasons), though some point to the fact he won just one Super Bowl with a team led by Aaron Rodgers. He has a 10-8 record in the postseason, and led a Packers team that became just the second No. 6 seed to win the Super Bowl. McCarthy is also one of only five coaches to win at least 15 games in a regular season.
And now, he’ll inherit one of the more talented offensive rosters in the league, but also the most pressure to succeed.
