Cowboys in trouble as rift widens between Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones: Report
The Dallas Cowboys appear to have a rift in the organization between owner Jerry Jones and head coach Mike McCarthy. NFL reporter Tyler Dunne broke the news with several Cowboy sources opening up on the rift.
McCarthy has been the head coach of the Cowboys since 2020 and has led Dallas to the playoffs in the past three years, but are just 1-3 in the playoffs under him. After the Cowboys were upset in the 2023 opening round against the Green Bay Packers, many fans called for McCarthy to be fired.
However, Jones decided to stick with McCarthy, but according to Dunne, the head coach is reportedly fed up with Jones undermining him.
"[McCarthy’s] doing it the best he can," a former Cowboys personnel man said to Dunne. "Some of the people I’ve talked to have said that he’s getting fed up with it a little bit."
One Cowboy source told Dunne that McCarthy doesn't have an influence on the players as Jones controls everything, which makes it hard for him to coach.
People around the NFL believe Jones needs to be less hands-on and let McCarthy coach how he wants to see how it works out.
“You hired him for a reason,” one NFL executive told Dunne. “You believed in what their philosophy was. Let him execute the philosophy. If it doesn’t work? Then, you move on from him.
"But when you’re meddling and you’re not only telling the personnel people who to draft and who to sign, but you’re also influencing what plays are called and things like that, it’s just going to hurt what’s going on.”
This could be a make-or-break year for McCarthy and the Cowboys who haven't had much playoff success since he took over.
Jerry Jones explains why he retained Mike McCarthy
After the Dallas Cowboys were eliminated by the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round, fans called for McCarthy to be fired.
However, in January, Jones announced he is keeping McCarthy as the Cowboys head coach as he has full confidence in him.
“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. There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach," Jones said, via SI.
"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," Jones concluded.
Mike McCarthy will enter 2024 in the final year of his contract with the Cowboys.
Since taking over Dallas, McCarthy has led the team to a 42-25 record and has won the NFC East in two of the last three seasons.