After announcing that Jason Garrett was out as coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, team owner Jerry Jones has reportedly settled on a replacement by agreeing to terms with former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy on Monday.
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer was the first to report the news. A source did confirm the hiring to the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team hasn’t announced the decision.
McCarthy, who won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers in Dallas in February of 2011, stayed at Jones’s mansion in Texas on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
‘Once you stay at Jerry’s house, he doesn’t lose his guy,’ a source told Schefter.
After announcing that Jason Garrett was out as coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, team owner Jerry Jones has reportedly settled on a replacement by agreeing to terms with former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy (pictured) on Monday
At 9½ seasons, Jason Garrett (left) had the club’s second-longest tenure behind Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Landry, who coached the Cowboys for the franchise’s first 29 years before Jones fired him in 1989. ‘Jason Garrett’s legacy with the Dallas Cowboys will always be that of someone who strived for greatness every day that he walked through the door,’ Jones said. ‘He is, and always will remain, a cherished member of the Dallas Cowboys family’
McCarthy reached the playoffs nine times in 13 seasons with the Packers, reaching the NFC championship game four times. Green Bay won at least 10 games eight times in his first 11 seasons before going 7-9 in 2017. McCarthy was fired with the Packers at 4-7-1 last season.
Former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis also reportedly received some interest from Jones.
McCarthy has stayed out of spotlight since being fired in Green Bay, besides an incident at his stepson’s high school basketball game in which the 56-year-old native Pennsylvanian reportedly berated officials as they left the Wisconsin gymnasium after a game.
At 9½ seasons, the 53-year-old Garrett had the club’s second-longest tenure behind Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Landry, who coached the Cowboys for the franchise’s first 29 years before Jones fired him when he bought the team in 1989.
Dallas finished 8-8 for the fourth time under Garrett. The Cowboys fueled high preseason expectations with a 3-0 start before dropping eight of 12 and losing control of their playoff fate. Dallas missed the playoffs six times in Garrett’s nine full seasons.
The inevitable conclusion was a difficult one for Jones, who hired Garrett as offensive coordinator in 2007 even before choosing Wade Phillips as coach. Garrett got the interim job when Phillips was fired halfway through the 2010 season.
Then-Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy and then-Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett embrace following a playoff game on January 15, 2017 in Arlington, Texas
Dallas hasn’t been past the divisional round of the playoffs in 24 straight seasons since the club´s fifth Super Bowl title to finish the 1995 season. Garrett got them within a victory of the NFC championship game three times in five years, losing to Green Bay twice and then the Los Angeles Rams last season.
When training camp opened, Jones didn’t want to talk about what it would take for Garrett to get another contract. It had been five years since Garrett was coaching for his job and the Cowboys went 12-4 and won a wild-card game before a loss at the Packers that included the infamous catch that wasn’t by Dez Bryant.
Jones had high hopes with quarterback Dak Prescott going into his fourth season along with star running back Ezekiel Elliott, who got a $90 million extension the morning of the first practice of the regular season after holding out the entire preseason.
McCarthy stayed at Jones’s house on Saturday, interviewed Sunday, and was reportedly hired on Monday – one day after the Cowboys announced that Jason Garrett would not be back
With Dallas at 3-0, video emerged of Jones mingling with fans in the French Quarter the night before a game in New Orleans. Dallas lost 12-10 to start the first of two three-game losing streaks.
The Cowboys have never made the playoffs when losing at least three straight games twice in a season, although they had a chance to qualify with a win at Philadelphia in Week 16. Dallas lost 17-9, then was eliminated in Week 17 despite a blowout victory over Washington when the Eagles won the NFC East by beating the New York Giants.
Garrett spent seven seasons as a player with the Cowboys, starting nine games in place of Aikman. His most memorable start was a 42-31 victory over Green Bay on Thanksgiving in 1994 when he threw for 311 yards and two touchdowns. Dallas lost to San Francisco in the NFC championship game that season.
After playing sparingly for the Giants from 2000-03 and not at all with Tampa Bay and Miami in 2004, Garrett retired and joined Nick Saban’s staff as quarterbacks coach. He went to the Cowboys after Saban decided to return to college coaching at Alabama.
‘Jason Garrett’s legacy with the Dallas Cowboys will always be that of someone who strived for greatness every day that he walked through the door,’ Jones said. ‘He is, and always will remain, a cherished member of the Dallas Cowboys family.’
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (R) celebrates with coach Mike McCarthy after the Packers defeated the Steelers in the NFL’s Super Bowl XLV football game in Arlington