Dallas Cowboys Are Keeping Mike McCarthy As Head Coach Despite Bitter Playoff Losses
If someone has to pay for the Dallas Cowboys chronically under-achieving in the postseason, it's not going to be head coach Mike McCarthy. At least not after this season.
The Dallas Cowboys are expected to keep McCarthy as their head coach at least through the start of the 2024 season, a source confirmed to OutKick Wednesday evening.
ESPN reported McCarthy is returning for the entire 2024 season.
So status quo at the highest coaching level for the Cowboys, although change is expected in some parts of the coaching staff.
This is interesting because the Cowboys, which owner Jerry Jones believes are built to win championships, have not risen above a division title during McCarthy's four seasons. The Cowboys, 12-5 in each of the past three seasons, also failed to reach the conference title game.
McCarthy's Dallas teams are 1-3 in the postseason. And yet Jones is holding fast and expecting improvement in 2024.
Cowboys Keeping McCarthy Has Layers
Jones released a statement explaining his thought process:
“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach," Jones said. "There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively.
"Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our post season goals. Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue."
Jones, while suffering through Sunday's loss, is not blaming McCarthy for it. At least not solely.
"Further, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just coach McCarthy," Jones said. "Our players. Coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we’re all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals.
"We will start our process of review and decision making regarding everything that impacts our team and roster and, while we’re not going to address specific players and extensions or free agents at this point, it deserves our deepest review and consideration, and it will get it."
Jones Weighed Scenarios But Kept McCarthy
McCarthy has a 11-11 postseason record. It basically seemed to waste opportunities in the past. Yes, the 2010 Green Bay Packers got hot late in the season and finished with a spectacular run in the playoffs and an improbable Super Bowl title.
But McCarthy seemed to waste seasons in Green Bay as well because of playoff loses. His 2011 team authored a 15-1 record and was one-and-done in the postseason. Five times McCarthy's teams made the playoffs during his time in Green Bay and Dallas and immediately followed that with a playoff loss.
All that are reasons McCarthy's status was up in the air until Wednesday. McCarthy survives but there are other challenges coming.
His staff is possibly about to lose one of its premier coaches in defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Quinn has multiple interviews for head coach jobs during the current coach hiring cycle and was fully expected to land one of those jobs.
If he lands a head coach job, it's likely Quinn will take Dallas assistants with him. The Cowboys are also expected to undergo rigorous job evaluations throughout the rest of the staff to decide if anyone else has to go.
So change is quite likely on the horizon.
Cowboys Could've Chased Accomplished Coaches
Aside from the challenges, McCarthy has already survived the presence of challengers for his job.
The current coach hiring cycle is almost unique in that it includes some highly accomplished coaches:
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who left New England last week. Belichick has already interviewed in Atlanta so he wants to keep coaching. He has six Super Bowl titles as a head coach so he knows how to win in the postseason.
Former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who was removed from his head coach job with the Seahawks but remains a team consultant. Carroll wants to keep coaching as well. Carroll's teams in Seattle have enjoyed winning seasons in 11 of the past 12 seasons.
Carroll, however, also has experienced some postseason setbacks despite taking his team to consecutive Super Bowls in 2013 and '14. Carroll's postseason record in Seattle was 10-9.
Former Titans coach Mike Vrabel was outright fired by the owner Amy Adams Strunk following the end of the regular season. His teams have failed to get in the postseason at all the past two seasons. The Titans were also upset in the divisional round by eventual AFC champion Cincinnati in the 2021 season.
Jones obviously decided the coaches on the market are not an upgrade worth jettisoning McCarthy for.
FRISCO, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Team owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys talks with the media during a press conference at the Ford Center at The Star on January 08, 2020 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Jones Went Dark To Make McCarthy Decision
The past few days have been tense in the Metroplex.
The Cowboys were stunned by the Green Bay Packers, 48-32 in a game they trailed by 32 points at one point. And Jones declined to discuss McCarthy's status following the loss in his typical postgame meet-up with reporters.
Then both Jones and club CEO declined to continue their regularly scheduled segments on local radio the day or two after a game.
The radio silence underscored the uncertainty surrounding the looming McCarthy decision. Jones was obviously weighing next steps and didn't wish to speak out of turn.
The mystery, however, ends after three days.