There's perhaps no person who has a better idea of what it's like to work for Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones than Jason Garrett.
Garrett worked for Jones in every NFL capacity possible. Garrett played for the Cowboys as a quarterback -- mainly as a backup, but he did wins six of his nine starts -- for seven seasons from 1993 to 1999. He worked as Dallas' offensive coordinator for four seasons from 2007-2010, and he was Jones' longest-tenured head coach with the Cowboys. Garrett's head-coaching tenure began with the interim tag in 2010 following the midseason firing of Wade Phillips, and he was Dallas' full-time coach for nine seasons (2011-19). He went 85-67 with three playoff appearances and earned 2016 NFL Coach of the Year honors after Dallas went 13-3 in Dak Prescott's rookie year.
With Jones parting ways with Mike McCarthy after five seasons on Monday, it's worth asking what kind of coach can succeed while reporting to Jones. Garrett, now an NBC Sports NFL analyst, feels it's someone who is such a good communicator that they are able to lead upward and get Jones to fully buy into what they are selling as their vision for the Cowboys.
"The kind of coach who thrives there is someone who is a really good coach," Garrett said on ESPN's "This Is Football" with Kevin Clark on Tuesday. "There is no doubt that ownership is involved. Jerry Jones is the general manager of the team, so the owner/general manager is involved, and he should be. That's how the organization is set up. I think you have to be an excellent communicator. I think you have to be an excellent leader.
"When I say communicating and leading, it's not only to your staff and to your team, it's also leading upward in the organization. I think you have to have a really clear vision for what you want the team to be. ... You have to be able to clearly articulate that and get everyone on the same page. The teams that have success in the NFL are aligned. They're aligned from ownership to general manager to head coach to coordinators to quarterback all the way down through."
Garrett: Jones makes Cowboys job 'challenging'
From Pro Football Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson, who won two Super Bowls coaching the Cowboys, to McCarthy, many Dallas coaches have tried and failed to remain aligned with Jones over the years. That's why Garrett described the NFL teams that best represent the desired alignment and dished on what the difference was in his three playoff seasons in Dallas (2014, 2016 and 2018).
"Look at the obvious examples: Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore, some of the other ones. The teams that are there year after year," Garrett said. "You're trying to create alignment, and when you're the head coach, you're really in charge of that. You're in charge of creating the vision and letting everyone know, 'this is what we want this team to look like, and we have to be disciplined to make the decisions to make this vision come alive.' It can be challenging in Dallas because of the ownership/general manager, but it can also be advantageous in Dallas because of ownership and the general manager is the same guy.
"It's incumbent upon you to do a good job communicating what the vision is and being disciplined to that. When we did that when I was the head coach there, we drafted really good players, and we had really good teams. When he deviated from that, we were less disciplined, and we weren't quite as good. I think that's an important thing to understand."
Many view the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Garrett clearly does also, admitting it's not realistic for Jones to change his ways of doing business. Jones himself admitted as much after the season finale against Washington, saying the reason he bought the team was to have an occupation he could do for the rest of his life. That's why, in Garrett's mind, it's critical to humor Jones and listen to him while also clarifying that the team's next coach needs to be firm with Jones when spelling out how they need things to go in Dallas.
"Jerry is 82 years old, and he's done things a certain way for a long, long time," Garrett said. "I think if you go in there as the head coach, you have to embrace what those dynamics are, and you have to learn. I learned a tremendous amount from Jerry Jones during my time there as a player, as an assistant coach and as a head coach. He's a really, really bright guy who has a great perspective on a lot of things inside and outside of football. Having a beginner's mind as someone who wants to learn from someone like that I think is important, but then also having your own vision about how things need to be and being able to communicate that vision is critical. I don't think you spend a lot of time trying to change Jerry Jones. I don't think that's going happen. I think you have to understand what his strengths are and then maybe some of the areas where you guys can work together to make the organization better than it's been in recent years."
Dallas has 13 consecutive playoff appearances without reaching the conference championship round, the longest streak in NFL history. Their last NFC title game appearance came in the 1995 season. It's going to take plenty of patience and communication from the Cowboys' next coach to help guide Jones and his franchise back to their Super Bowl standard of the 1990s dynasty years.
