Associated Press
IRVING, Texas — As Jerry Jones considered minority candidates for his next head coach, front-runner Jason Garrett remained hard at work, too, on Tuesday.
No longer interim coach, Garrett is still the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. So he was at his desk doing what he was supposed to be doing two days after the end of the season.
“Evaluations, evaluations, evaluations,” he said.
Anything else to add?
“None,” he said while walking back into his office.
Jones said on his radio show Tuesday morning that he could have a decision by the afternoon and an announcement today. The hold-up seems to be complying with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to consider minority candidates.
“We’re moving at a real good rate from a timing standpoint,” Jones said. “I expect a pretty immediate resolve.”
Jones fulfilled that by spending three hours Tuesday with receivers coach Ray Sherman, who is black. Sherman has been in the NFL since 1988, with stints as an assistant head coach in Atlanta and offensive coordinator with the Jets, Steelers and Vikings. This was his fourth season in Dallas, all of them spent working under Garrett.
Asked how the meeting went, Sherman said, “It was good, it was good.”
“I don’t want to sound like I’ve got a gun to my head, but I really want to adhere to what we call the Rooney Rule in the NFL and do the things as we’ve all agreed to do regarding minority hiring,” Jones said. “So I wanted to get that done right and obviously you haven’t done it right if you’ve already made a hire and yet haven’t done your interviewing.”
Garrett was given a chance to win the job with his midseason promotion to interim coach. He went 5-3 with a club that had been 1-7. All the losses in his tenure were by a field goal or less. Many players said they hope Garrett will return because they appreciated the structure and discipline he brought.
“There is no joy in Mudville here regarding the success we had,” Jones said. “But it’s better than what it could have been. That does give a real positive thing to evaluate regarding Jason.”
Jones nearly hired Garrett four years ago.