The Cowboys’ upcoming appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks may be a welcome addition to the TV lineup for many of the team’s fans this summer, but some see the bright lights and ever-present camera crews as just one more thing the Cowboys don’t need as they attempt to improve on a dreadful 6-10 season in 2020.
Count former head coach Dave Campo among the latter group. Campo was at the helm when the Cowboys were first featured on the behind-the-scenes series back in 2002, the show’s second season on the air.
“It’s a little bit invasive,” Campo told 105.3 The Fan and SI‘s Mike Fisher, “and that’s the one thing I think is a little bit tough. The marketing part of the Cowboys? It’s a great thing, because everybody in the country gets an opportunity to [see them]. Whether you like the Cowboys or not- it’s a good thing for the club. For the players, it’s not bad because I think they like the idea of being on-camera and the national people seeing them every week. But for the coaching staff, especially in a year where you have a little bit of pressure on you to win, it’s a little bit tougher. You’re constantly in the eye. I think for Coach McCarthy, it might not be his favorite thing.”
Campo certainly had plenty of dramatic subplots around him when HBO came calling in 2002, his third season as coach. The spotlight was intense on running back Emmitt Smith as he prepared to break the all-time rushing mark. The club had a quarterback controversy to deal with, as Quincy Carter competed for snaps against newly-signed baseball prodigy Chad Hutchinson. Rookie safety Roy Williams carried massive expectations as he entered camp a top-10 overall draft pick.
Multi-million dollar careers and lifelong dreams hung in the balance, as they do for every team that appears on the series. It’s a recipe for reality-TV ratings, but Campo admitted it’s very difficult to handle the necessary business of football without “performing” for the cameras.
“You really can’t, in a way,” Campo confessed. “You know you’re being looked at every second.”
The coach called having to sit a player down and cut him from the roster while being filmed especially difficult. And having to come home and explain workplace dynamics to family and friends who’ve watched it as entertainment in the living room was just as bad.
“My son was 11 years old,” Campo explained. “He saw the first episode, and I talked to him after the show came on. He said, ‘Dad, I learned the alphabet today: the A-word, the B-word, the C-word, the F-word…’ He heard them all, unfortunately. It wasn’t the greatest experience, to be honest with you.”
But the 73-year-old knows that whether it’s the Cowboys or any other NFL franchise, the allure of the publicity gained by starring in the series may be too much for any owner to turn down, despite the discouraging track record of teams who have appeared. Few teams go on to a postseason berth following their Hard Knocks series.
Campo’s 2002 squad went 5-11 to finish last in the NFC East. He would be fired afterward. He remains the only Cowboys head coach to have never posted a winning record or coached a playoff game.
This year in Dallas, there’s already a growing sense for some that current head coach Mike McCarthy is on the hot seat to make a deep playoff run in just his second season on the sidelines… or else.
“I think there’s a little pressure on Mike McCarthy now. And I don’t think that [the show]’s in his best interest… It’s too much scrutiny, and it’s a distraction, in a way.”
McCarthy and the Cowboys had plenty of distractions in his first campaign last year. For the team that battled through a virtual offseason, pandemic restrictions, and losing their star quarterback five games into a record-pace season to still come within reach of an improbable divisional crown, maybe a few cameras and microphones won’t be quite as disruptive.
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