Judging by the season the Dallas Cowboys are having, most assume there will be a change at head coach in January. Mike McCarthy is in the final year of the five-year contract he signed in 2020.
But Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said don’t assume anything just yet. During his weekly radio interview Tuesday morning on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Jones said he’s not ruling out a contract extension for McCarthy.
“I don’t think that’s crazy at all,” Jones said. “That’s not crazy. Listen, Mike McCarthy is an outstanding coach. … This is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Mike McCarthy has been there and done that. He has great ideas. Bottom line is that no place in my body language or anything else have you seen indications about what we’re going to be doing relative to this (coaching) staff at the end of this year. And we shouldn’t. We got a lot of football left.”
After a rough start in his first season on the Cowboys’ sideline, McCarthy guided Dallas to three consecutive 12-win seasons. This season got off to a 3-2 start, but a five-game losing streak has put them at a position where the playoffs are highly unlikely. The biggest issue has been extremely poor play at home, which has been the case since the stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers in January.
McCarthy was hired after former head coach Jason Garrett was unable to have more postseason success. The Cowboys have only one playoff win since McCarthy was hired.
Of course, what is Jones supposed to say when asked if it’s crazy that he could give McCarthy an extension at the end of the season? Sunday’s 34-26 win at Washington was Dallas’ first in seven weeks. Jones has made it clear several times over the last month that he has no interest in making an in-season coaching change. So, his plan all along has been to give McCarthy the full season. He will then evaluate everything and make his final decision in January.
That doesn’t mean he hasn’t had any thoughts about who could potentially be Dallas’ next head coach. But it also doesn’t do anything positive to say on Nov. 26 that he already has an idea of who that will be and it’s not McCarthy.
Jones would prefer to see how this season plays out. For McCarthy to get a new contact, though, it would likely have to be an historic finish for Dallas. It is somewhat interesting that their remaining six games are against four teams with losing records and one against a Commanders team they just beat at Washington.
(Photo: Peter Casey / Getty Images)
