After 10 seasons at the helm of “America’s Team,” coach Jason Garrett was let go by the Dallas Cowboys, late last week. He was quickly replaced by former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy.
The decision appeared to have been made swiftly, but it was something the Cowboys had likely been planning for some time. NFL teams aren’t known to make hasty decisions when billion-dollar franchises are at stake.
Daron Roberts is the founding director of the Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation at the University of Texas at Austin. He says he wasn’t surprised by Garrett’s firing.
“After the Cowboys went 8 and 8 … you were expecting for the Joneses to make a change,” Roberts says.
And McCarthy’s own record, including a Super Bowl win in 2011, made him an attractive candidate. But he will definitely change the Cowboys’ culture, Roberts says. “He’s gonna coach this team with an iron fist.”
What’s more, some players’ jobs could be at risk with a new coach looking to shake things up.
In the process of interviewing candidates to replace Garrett, the Cowboys had to follow the Rooney Rule – an NFL policy that requires teams to interview a diverse pool of candidates. They did do that, but Roberts says they were already likely going to pick McCarthy.
The Rooney Rule has helped increase diversity in the NFL, though. Roberts says it has “exposed up-and-coming offensive and defensive coordinators of color to owners.”
Written by Caroline Covington.
