For the franchise’s first 29 years, the Cowboys had Tom Landry as their head coach. Since Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989, he has been through eight head coaches.
Sometime soon, Jones will hire his ninth head coach.
Mike McCarthy’s deal expired, and the Cowboys announced Monday they are not giving him a new one.
ESPN analyst Troy Aikman, a Hall of Fame quarterback for his 12 seasons with the team, was surprised . . . but not surprised.
“I thought Mike McCarthy would be the head coach, so this is a bit of surprise for me today that he’s not going to be,” Aikman said on ESPN’s pregame show. “What went into those conversations . . . I’m not exactly sure. It suggests that there’s not a real plan.”
Jones’ history of head coaching hires suggests the Cowboys’ next head coach will be someone he knows well or someone who is a former head coach. Kellen Moore and Jason Witten have ties to the Cowboys. Pete Carroll, Doug Pederson, Mike Zimmer and Kliff Kingsbury are former head coaches.
Coordinators who have never been a head coach and have no ties to the Cowboys — coaches like Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn — are unlikely for the job in Dallas, which has unique challenges.
Aikman, though, shot down the idea that the Cowboys are a “coveted job” for any head coaching candidate.
“As far as a coveted job, I don’t know that that’s accurate,” Aikman said. “I do think the Cowboys are obviously a high-profile team and whoever is head coach of that team is certainly going to draw a lot of attention. But I think most football people that take over as a head coach want to do it on their terms, and that’s hard to do [in Dallas]. You take a Dan Campbell for instance. Is Dan Campbell Dan Campbell if he’s with the Dallas Cowboys? It’s hard to imagine that he is. It’s hard to imagine that a lot of these coaches might me.
“I love the Dallas Cowboys. I played there for 12 years. I wish them well. But to say it’s a coveted job, I’m not sure I would necessarily agree with that.”
As much as Jones respects Aikman, his former quarterback’s take on the job is sure to cut deep.