There were bars set high and surprising comparisons galore as two Cowboys legends weigh in on the team’s new head coach.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could not have set the bar for his new head coach any higher. And he couldn’t have done it much earlier than he did. Less than three minutes into Wednesday’s press conference that introduced Mike McCarthy as the ninth head coach in team history- before McCarthy had even said a word- Jones was invoking the name of the most decorated quarterback to have ever worn the star.
He’s still figuring out where the bathrooms are at the team’s headquarters, but McCarthy is already being mentioned in the same breath as the franchise’s greatest champions. Several of those champions, including Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, think he just may prove to be worthy of the lofty comparison.
“When I first got in the NFL,” Jones recalled to begin the press conference, after reading a list of highlights off McCarthy’s impressive resume, “I looked real smart- very smart- because right as we walked through the door, Troy Aikman was the first pick in the draft. And the Dallas Cowboys had the first pick in the draft. And the Dallas Cowboys needed a great quarterback to start. Those combinations of things can make you look real smart when that timing comes together. That’s the analogy that I’m alluding to here. Yes. We. Needed. Mike. We needed a coach, but to have his availability, and to have his track record and ability to check all the boxes that I just talked about was fortuitous for this franchise.”
Likening McCarthy’s arrival to taking Aikman with the first overall pick in 1989 makes the 56-year-old coach’s mandate in Dallas crystal-clear. His joining the organization may not necessarily kickstart a dynasty per se, but it had better add a sixth Lombardi Trophy to the case in pretty short order.
For what it’s worth, Aikman himself thinks McCarthy’s hiring is an encouraging step in that direction.
“I do think that the guy that they hired is outstanding,” Aikman told The Musers on 96.7 FM/1310 AM The Ticket [KTCK-AM] on Wednesday. “I’ve known him a long time; I’ve gotten to know him very well. And I think he’ll come in and do a great job.”
Former coach Jason Garrett served as Aikman’s backup for the team’s remarkable run during the mid- to late-1990s and was there for the Cowboys’ two most recent championships in Super Bowls XXVIII and XXX. Aikman has spoken recently about the way his friend’s tenure in Dallas came to an end under the Jones regime, reminding fans that the NFL is, first and foremost, a business for those who are in it, and that even successful coaches often find themselves looking for new employment.
Aikman remarked that McCarthy knows something of that as well after his sudden dismissal from the Packers in early December of 2018.
“The way that it ended in Green Bay? I think he deserved better,” Aikman explained. “I don’t feel that, after all those years of success, that he deserved to be fired before the season ended. And I thought that he handled all of that exceptionally well, but I wasn’t certain that… I didn’t anticipate that the Cowboys would be of interest, that he would be of interest to the Cowboys. And so when I heard that it was possible that he might be named the head coach, that the interview went well, he stayed over, I thought that was a really good thing.
“I think of the guys that are available- and even if you looked at guys who aren’t available- I think that Mike McCarthy would certainly be on that short list. I think it was an outstanding hire. I think he’ll come in; it’ll be a different voice- of course it always is with a new head coach- and he’ll have a different approach, and I think for some people, that’ll be really refreshing. And we’ll see where it goes.”
Aikman’s primary receiver from the glory days thinks it may go right to the top of the NFL mountain. Michael Irvin drew a recent pro basketball analogy in speaking with TMZ about what he expects from the Cowboys’ new skipper.
While Irvin admitted that he was “mourning” the end of Garrett’s time in Dallas, he believes his friend and former teammate should get another opportunity to lead an NFL team.
“You look at the greatest of all time, and that’s Bill Belichick,” Irvin said. “You know, if he stopped at Cleveland, what would we have? But he got another opportunity in New England, and he ultimately became the greatest of all time.”
Comparing Jason Garrett to Bill Belichick may be more of a leap than many Cowboys fans can make right now. They’re still wrapping their heads around the idea that hiring Mike McCarthy might be akin to drafting Troy Aikman.
[vertical-gallery id=637633][lawrence-newsletter]
