As of this writing we are roughly a day away from Mike McCarthy being free to coach an NFL team other than the Dallas Cowboys in 2025.
Even if Jerry Jones brings McCarthy back for 2025 and beyond, eventually McCarthy will move on. Eventually, Dallas will hire its 10th head coach.
There will be many candidates vying for the job.
After this past week, there is one coach who shouldn’t be on that list.
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian officially disqualified himself on Friday night. Not that his 11-year run as a head coach in college football has been that stellar.
It’s only been the last two years at Texas that Sarkisian has led his team to double-digit wins.
Yet, his post-season record is 4-5.
In these last two years, the Longhorns have fallen in the semi-finals. This year’s loss boiled down to bad play calling in the deciding moments.
That failure is all on Sarkisian.
Have the ball on the one-yard line with a chance to tie, and the call is to run a sweep against a fast defense?
Two plays later Ohio State put the game away with a scoop-and-score fumble recovery.
Prior to the loss, there was a lot of chatter about Sarkisian to the Cowboys if McCarthy is in fact gone. Hopefully, that chatter has come to an end.
Sarkisian in Dallas would just be a continuation of the failure to perform when it matters that has plagued the Cowboys for over a quarter of a century.
No Prime Time Please
Another coach’s name floating around in the ether is Colorado’s Deion Sanders.
Despite his protestations to the contrary, that he wanted to stay in Boulder, Sanders has said he’d like to coach both of his sons in the NFL.
Reportedly, Sanders’ camp has reached out to the Las Vegas Raiders about their vacancy. The Raiders draft sixth in April and they need a quarterback.
But a recent report also indicated that no one has quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the first round on their boards.
Would Las Vegas really burn that sixth pick on the Sanders family? If so, would they really take defensive back Shilo Sanders in the second or third round just to ensure Deion Sanders gets his wish?
Normally, I’d say no way.
But Mark Davis is proving he’s even worse as an NFL owner than AL Davis became in his later years. At least Al David had the excuse of being old and likely having dementia.
The younger Davis is just bad at this.
Sort of a preview of what we’re going to see in Dallas after Jerry Jones is gone and Stephen Jones takes over. Ugh, I need a drink after typing that.
Especially if you start considering the circus it would be if Sanders did become the Cowboys head coach.
A Continuation Of Mediocrity
Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin is on the hot seat after the Steelers were bounced out of the playoffs on Saturday.
Tomlin has led Pittsburgh for 18 seasons. He won a Super Bowl in his second year, though that one was more gift-wrapped by the Cardinals than won.
Two years later he got the Steelers back to the Super Bowl only to lose to the McCarthy-led Green Bay Packers.
Since then, Pittsburgh is 3-9 in the playoffs.
Tomlin is 183-107-2 overall in the regular season, in addition to his 8-11 playoff record, and he’s never finished below .500 in any of his 18 seasons.
However, the Steelers fanbase is a lot like the Cowboys’. Super Bowl or bust is the expectation and Tomlin isn’t getting it done in that respect.
Should Pittsburgh cut Tomlin lose, that doesn’t mean the Cowboys should try to hire him.
Tomlin would just be a continuation of retread coaches who aren’t able to take the Cowboys to the next level.
The True Targets
If McCarthy departs – and he very well could be retained 10 minutes after I upload this on Sunday, or 10 minutes after this posts today – there are solid candidates to choose from.
Mike Zimmer should remain as defensive coordinator. He had that unit playing much better down the stretch.
Buffalo’s offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Detroit’s Ben Johnson, or Washington’s Kliff Kingsbury should top the list.
Coaches that have a chance to elevate Dak Prescott from a great-in-the-regular-season-but-meh-in-the-playoffs quarterback.
And if Prescott simply can never take that step, then they’ll be able to develop Prescott’s replacement. That eliminates Philadelphia’s Kellen Moore in case you were wondering.
Dallas needs a fresh approach, especially on offense.
It’s time to swing for the fences, Jerry Jones. This time, try not to screw it up.