After virtually every Dallas Cowboys game, Jerry Jones, the team’s owner, general manager and center of attention, arrives in the hallway outside the team’s locker room and makes himself available for a media gathering.
He stands among the cameras and recorders, and answers all inquiries about the match, the players, the performances, the referees, the decisions and what he plans for the future until, pretty much, the journalists are exhausted.
And if that wasn’t enough, he makes a weekly appearance on a local sports radio show every Tuesday to speak again, creating a new media cycle.
This is how Jones runs the Cowboys and it is his right to do so – he owns the team after all.
It’s unique, but also deserves credit. Of course, it is common for more media to be gathered around him than at the head coach’s official press conference, but Jones is available and responsible, even after the most disappointing results.
If you want to coach the Cowboys, this is the reality you have to operate in — more so now than ever since, at 82 years old, Jones seems set in his ways and hungrier than ever for his time in front of the camera.
It’s not just the lack of spotlight that a head coach has to adapt to – many would be fine without it. It’s that their voice – publicly and within the team – is not the loudest.
Players naturally want to know what the person who negotiates their contracts, signs their paychecks and determines their future employment thinks. Meanwhile, Jones’ comments often create scenarios that require players and coaches to react.
He’s a wild card for a head coach, who usually wants complete control.
Enter Hall of Famer Deion Sanders (including five years and a Super Bowl in Dallas under Jones). He is now Coach Prime, leader of the Colorado Buffaloes in the college ranks. He has both enough success and enough fame to attract the interest of Jones, who is in need of a coach after failing to re-sign Mike McCarthy for next season.
First in Dallas? That would be media gold, but would it make sense for either party?
From 1978 to 1991, CBS aired a prime-time soap opera that was a huge success. based on the clash of big egos and big money – with an aerial view of the old Cowboys stadium – based in Dallas. That would be the sequel.
It is, at least, possible. The two spoke Monday in news first reported by Fox Sports.
“Hearing Jerry Jones is really delightful and intriguing,” Sanders told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “I love Jerry and I believe in Jerry. I love Boulder and everything about our team, coaches, student body and community.
There’s no doubt that hearing Jones was delightful in this context. Would Sanders want to hear his team owner’s thoughts after games or midweek?
Sanders is usually the biggest star in any room he walks into. He is an NFL Hall of Fame player who also moonlighted in Major League Baseball. He is one of the most accomplished athletes in American history and he has done it with a flair for publicity along the way.
Second fiddles were never his thing.
As a college coach, he built his programs at Jackson State and Colorado on culture – a mindset that proved effective. This is how he attracts talent and gets players to perform. He masters all aspects of the organization.
So could Jerry and Deion coexist?
One argument is that Sanders is actually the only coach capable of doing this. As much attention as Jones will demand, Deion is a force in his own right and will be able to match or exceed that. It will never be ignored.
There are of course other questions. Is this a good job for Sanders? Could he succeed?
The Cowboys have a quality quarterback in Dak Prescott. That’s a positive, although it would block any potential NFL father-son reunion between Deion and draft prospect QB Shedeur. It’s also unclear whether Sanders would make a successful professional coach (there’s a long list of failures when moving from the NCAA to the NFL).
But at this point, the question of the match simply arises.
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Jones is not going to change. He admitted buying the Cowboys for something to do late in life. He’s always enjoyed the fame that comes from his work, and even though he hasn’t delivered a Super Bowl in 29 years, he’s not going to give up.
Sanders is unlikely to change. His instinct to place himself at the center of the conversation has worked spectacularly in sports, coaching and business.
As good as he is in Colorado – total control – and as good as his recruitment is going to keep the Buffs winning, even after his son Shedeur and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter head to the league , the chance to coach the Cowboys is not being fired.
“Intriguing,” Prime called it.
Intriguing indeed.
