“Jerry Jones has been trying to prove for 30 years that coaching doesn’t matter much” Tom Pelissero on the Cowboys

Tom Pelissero, reporter for the NFL Network, spoke on The Rich Eisen Show on Sunday, and explained a bit about the reasons why NFL head coaches' contracts are such a big secret. In doing so, he used Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as an example of someone who gets around paying the big bucks for proven head coaches.

While NFL players' salaries and details of their contracts are public information, the coaches' are kept under wraps. The information tends to get out there, but it takes a lot more digging. Pelissero explains that part of the reason for that is that there’s no big governing body like there is with the players, and there is no salary cap. Releasing that information can give other coaches the incentive to ask for more (or conversely, teams to ask for less), when the numbers don’t always tell the whole story.

“There’s some teams that do a ton in terms of incentives - other stuff that has nothing to do with just salary,” said Pelissero. “And those are ways that on paper they can go, ‘well, he’s making this”, when really it’s it’s a higher number.”

Tom Pelissero’s take on Jerry’s Schottenheimer hire

After the Cowboys went 7-10 this season and missed the playoffs, Jones let head coach Mike McCarthy walk as his contract came to an end when the regular season did. Some rumors swirled about intriguing choices to replace him, but in the end, Jones went with the Cowboys' then offensive coordinator and arguably the least exciting choice, Brian Schottenheimer.

Schottenheimer has no head coaching experience, and thus comes cheaper than others. Plus, he’s familiar with the organization. And according to Pelissero, Jerry Jones is one of those owners who thinks “coaching contracts are bloated” and “we’re overpaying these guys”.

“This is not in any way a shot at Brian Schottenheimer, but Jerry accomplished what he wanted to with hiring, you know, with parting ways with Mike McCarthy and ultimately hiring Brian Schottenheimer, which was he didn’t really have to change anything,” said Pelisero.

“It’s kind of a continuation of the same program. Schotty’ll do some things differently here. But he didn’t have to get into a bidding war for one of these top head coaching candidates, or extend a coach who’s a Super Bowl winner and deserves to be paid with the upper echelon of coaches.”

Since Jones took over as the Cowboys owner in 1989, the team has had nine head coaches (including Schottenheimer). The only one to have any control over personnel was the first, Jimmy Johnson, who won two Super Bowls with the team, but was later fired due to power struggles with Jones. Jones has maintained that being the head coach of “America’s Team” is a coveted job, despite the fact that they haven’t won a Super Bowl (or NFC title for that matter) in nearly three decades.

“Jerry’s been trying to prove for 30 years that coaching doesn’t matter that much, said Pelissero. ”It’s the same way that the wedge was driven with Jimmy Johnson where it was, ‘oh, anybody could have coached this team’. How many times has Jerry said, ’500 different people, 500 different people could coach this, the Dallas Cowboys, would want to coach‘? He interviewed four.”

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