Is Jerry Jones’ Ego the Dallas Cowboys Biggest Problem?
One of the best things about working at the Landry Hat is experiencing the passion and intelligence of our Dallas Cowboys fans. And in an effort to further serve our great community, we put out a request this week to answer your fan questions. So here is today’s questions:
"“Why doesn’t Jerry Jones step down as GM and hire someone that knows what they are doing in that role?” – Julie S. “When will winning a SB become more important to Jerry Jones than his ego?” – Al J. “Will Jerry Jones retire, or will he continue to run the franchise like the late Al Davis?” – Andrew Z."
What follows are the responses from some of our great staff writers and passionate Cowboy experts.
September 18, 2011; San Francisco, CA, USA; Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on the sidelines before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park. Dallas defeated San Francisco 27-24 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Burke, Staff Writer – Julie, because he owns the team and is doing what he wants to do. Besides, Jason Garrett and Tom Ciskowski are really the two guys running the personnel and Stephen Jones and his advisors are running the contracts. Jerry is a marketer.
Al, the honest answer is he thinks it is already. You don’t have to agree with him.
Yes Andrew, at some point Jerry will retire and turn the reins over to his sons. I wouldn’t hold my breath that this is any time soon.
Kim Dunning, Senior Writer – Simple answer is because he doesn’t have too. Jerry Jones has always said he would be involved with the football operations because it’s his team and he’ll do what he wants.
I don’t think it ever will per se. However, winning is important to Jerry Jones. I think he is still trying to shake the ghost of Jimmy Johnson’s wins. Unfortunately, his ego will always be too big and I don’t think we’ll win another Superbowl in Dallas for years to come because of Jerry’s “deals”
Finally, I think, like Al Davis, he will be our owner and general manager until he passes on.
Todd Toombs, Senior Writer – Great question! But, Jerry has made it pretty clear that he owns the team and will do what he wants. What he wants is to be a “deep in the weeds” GM-type owner. The Cowboys are his hobby and he could care less what fans think as long as they keep buying the tickets and merchandise. You would be more likely to capture a leprechaun riding a unicorn than seeing Jerry hire a GM, so we all better just get used to it.
NOTHING is more important to Jerry than Jerry. Jerry also unequivocally believes in himself and figures if he continues to tinker enough, he will eventually figure it out. However, no one outside of his group of sycophants believes that will be the case. If the Cowboys ever win another Super Bowl – and that is sadly doubtful – it will be in spite of Jerry not because of him. Oh, but he’ll be right there holding the trophy mugging for the camera. As a lifelong fan, I hope that happens, despite the fact that it would only feed Jerry’s ego. But, I think the great Super Bowl runs are like tail lights heading away from us and getting very, very faint.
Get used to seeing Jerry until he can no longer physically do it. He will age very ungracefully just like Mr. Davis and will be there until the bitter end making bad decisions and not caring about the criticism. “How ‘bout them Cowboys?” will go down as his catch phrase just like Mr. Davis’ “Just Win Baby!”. We had better hope that medical science doesn’t find a way to extend life indefinitely or Jerry will be around even longer than we expect. Unfortunately, once he does pass, he has already trained his son Stephen in the fine art of awful football decisions. I would expect him to continue that family legacy.
Read more answers to this reader’s question on the next page…