Dallas Cowboys and the Love of Old Warhorses

The Dallas Cowboys are not fans of new and exciting things, but rather quite the opposite, and recycling old warhorses seems to be the choice.

So, what is a warhorse? A warhorse is a veteran of some activity or profession (not necessarily the military) with a wealth of experience going through various trials and tribulations.

Fans have watched over the years as Jerry Jones has hired retreads as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

The last successful coach, defined by this team’s Super Bowl win, was a well-known coach from the University of Oklahoma. His predecessor also hailed from a prestigious coaching background at the University of Miami.

The last successful coaches were from the college ranks, so why have the Cowboys used so many retreads to coach this team over the previous several years?

Jerry Jones’ Head Coaches Over the Last 35 Years

Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. Since then, he has been the general manager and owner, hiring eight head coaches to lead the team.

Jerry appointed himself as general manager and then fired Tex Schramm. Following Tex’s departure, legendary coach Tom Landry was also let go.

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The first head coach hired by Jerry Jones was Jimmy Johnson, and this hire was very successful for the Dallas Cowboys from 1989 to 1993 before conflicts arose.

The second head coach was Barry Switzer from the University of Oklahoma. Switzer coached from 1994 to 1997 and did very well with the team, even though the players on the team were Jimmy Johnson guys.

Here is rapid fire for the following coaches: none lasted longer than four years or had any Super Bowls.

The third coach was Chan Gailey from 1998 to 1999, the fourth coach was Dave Campo from 2000 to 2002, the fifth coach was Bill Parcells from 2003 to 2006, and the sixth coach in team history was Wade Phillips from 2007 to 2010.

Jason Garrett was the longest-tenured head coach other than Tom Landry. Garrett coached from 2010 to 2019. The longest-tenured coach had some excellent teams and great offenses, but he could never seem to get over the playoff hump.

Current Head Coach Mike McCarthy is in his fifth season in Dallas and has had great teams. He has the best winning percentage of all the coaches on this list, at .627.

The only downfall is playoff success, and every head coach since Jerry Jones took over has experienced that downfall, except for the first two coaches on this list.

The other common denominator outside the two Super Bowl-winning coaches on the list is that all of these coaches were NFL coaches in some aspect of the game.

The Dallas Cowboys do not have good luck with retreads from other NFL teams.

Old warhorses do not do well with this team.

Two Old War Horses in the Running for the Head Coach Position

Mike McCarthy is the Cowboys’ head coach and is having a terrible year. Rumors have been flying around that this is his final year.

Jerry Jones may have put that to rest with the comments made to the media.

“I don’t think that’s crazy at all,” Jones commented on a potential contract extension for McCarthy. “This is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Mike McCarthy has been there and done that. He has great ideas. We got a lot of football left.”

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These comments do not sound like an owner looking to get rid of the head coach, but it could be a smokescreen, too.

This would be the first old warhorse still in the running.

The second would be none other than Bill Belichick. Everyone knows who this man is and what he has done in the NFL with a Hall of Fame-type quarterback.

Could he be the next in line to take on this team and try to get them back to the Super Bowl? The media sure does think so.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic spoke with ten anonymous NFL head coaches and executives to discuss Bill Belichick’s best potential landing spots. The teams most frequently mentioned were the Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bill Belichick recently compared the Dallas Cowboys’ dynamic duo of Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb to the legendary tandem of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice from the San Francisco 49ers.

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Breaking down the video, Belichick said:

“Yeah, well I sit back and think about a lot the Tuesdays that I had trying to stop Montana and Rice,” he said. “Those are the two guys in San Francisco, Lamb and Prescott, those that you guys were talking about with the Cowboys.”

That is a big statement from Belichick, but the one problem he would have in Dallas is Jerry Jones.

Bill Belichick would not have the autonomy to do as he pleases in Dallas, and as good as his relationship with Jerry Jones is, the power struggle would be newsworthy.

As we have seen in the past with the coaches who have had success with the Dallas Cowboys, retreads are not the way to go, nor are old warhorses.

For the Dallas Cowboys to be successful, they may need to recruit from the college ranks. That is the last time a Super Bowl trophy was lifted by a Dallas Cowboys coach, and that may be the next time it happens again.

The old warhorses are a good story, and the media would love them, but that is not what is best for the Dallas Cowboys.