As the Wade Phillips era comes to an ignominious close in Big D, the thoughts of Cowboys fans turn to the coaching search. Every fan has their wishlist. I have seen names posted on-line from Bill Cowher (who seems to be the current favorite of fans) to Jim Harbaugh; Perry Fewell to Jimmy Johnson. While there are a host of good candidates out there, my personal pick would be Jon Gruden. Of course, this is assuming a perfect world where everyone is available. It may turn out Gruden has no desire to leave the comfort of the booth, but sitting next to Ron Jaworski has got to get old after awhile. Here are a few of the reasons I like Gruden for the job:
1) Motivator with Credentials
Anytime a team gets rid of a soft, friendly, players coach like Phillips, they have to go out and get someone with a little more fire and a little more "in your face" style. Gruden is this to a "T". Not only does he have the right style, he has the credentials to back up his style. He is a Super Bowl champion. Maybe the Cowboys players didn't respond to Wade because they felt all of his success was a direct result of them since Wade had never won anything. Well that's not the case with Gruden, and I think players would respect and listen to a guy who has done it before without them.
2) Quarterback Guru
Tony Romo is the star of this team, as the starting QB for Dallas always is. However, even though he is a Pro Bowl quarterback, he is still developing. Who better to coach him up than a guy who loves to coach quarterbacks. Gruden could turn Tony Romo into Jeff Garcia or Rich Gannon, and that would be a good thing.
3) Crazy Owners are Old Hat
Perhaps most importantly, Jon Gruden has coached for a crazy owner before. In fact, I would argue that Al Davis is even crazier than Jerry Jones. That experience would give Gruden an advantage in dealing with Jerry that none of the other candidates have. Look at Bill Cowher. He coached for so long in Pittsburgh with the Rooney family. That type of stability is nowhere near the type of situation he would find in Dallas.
So my memo to Jerry is to get out the checkbook, simply wirte "Jon Gruden" on it, leave the rest blank and stick it in the mail. Of course, thats easy to say because it isn't my money.
Al Davis is crazier than the guy with the question mark suit who comes on late night tv and screams about his book about how to get free money from the government, but Al knows he's crazy. Unfortunately, Jerry thinks he's sane and would not take Gruden's history with wackjob owners into consideration.
ReplyDeleteUncle Gus
True Gus, I dont think Jerry will take that into consideration, but I do think it gives Gruden a better shot at succeeding than the other guys.
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