5 reasons the Dallas Cowboys should hire Jon Gruden

Jerry Jones certainly made a controversial splash when he purchased the Dallas Cowboys, seemingly in the shadow of darkness, back in February of 1989. As a senior in high school that year, I distinctly remember the public outcry that followed Jones’ unceremonious firing of Tom Landry following a dismal 3-13 season in 1988.

Jimmy Johnson was a great college football coach, but he wasn’t the kind of proven championship commodity in the NFL that Landry had become. Johnson was much younger and came across as a hyped-up high school football coach who had somehow found the wrong locker room and press conference.

Johnson made his mark, winning as many Super Bowls as Landry did in a fraction of the time it took Dallas’ inaugural head coach to do the same. The league was changing and it was going to change a lot more in coming years. The youth movement worked like nobody could have imagined and by January of 1994 America’s Team was bigger than ever before with a still-bright future ahead.

Following Johnson’s unexpected departure after Super Bowl XXVIII in Atlanta, Jones would embark on one odd head coaching hire after the other until he ended up in his own corner. Washed up Barry Switzer won a Super Bowl with mostly Johnson’s players, but the franchise immediately struggled on and off the field.

Chan Gailey‘s two-year run saw a couple of playoff berths, but no playoff wins. Jones was perceived as being highly impatient and he had only himself to blame. Salary cap management was a mess and Hall of Fame football players that remained from the early 90s were getting older.

No, Dave Campo never had a shot as coach of the Dallas Cowboys. There was no quarterback, few first round picks and no money for talent.

But then Jones finally woke up and realized that he was going to have to take a step back from the limelight. He was going to have to bring in a proven name that could not only help reshape the roster but also build some public support following three-straight 5-11 seasons following Y2K.

Enter Bill Parcells in 2003.

Then came a return to the playoffs in 2003.

Then Tony Romo in 2006.

Then came AT&T Stadium in 2009.

No, Jones doesn’t need to completely reboot the franchise as much of a championship puzzle might be in place. But the era of Jason Garrett either near or at the top of the Cowboys coaching tree has been tepid, at best, and it seems like a bold move would go a long ways towards rebuilding lost faith that now permeates throughout Cowboys Nation.

It wasn’t long ago that there was rumors that even players were growing frustrated with the current coaching regime, and there’s probably some truth to that. Jones could fix so many ills hampering this franchise by making an uncharacteristic move, but still a move that he has made before and with good results.

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Jones can outbid Gruden’s current deal with ESPN Monday Night Football – but only if he sees, once again, that change is necessary in his heritage franchise known as America’s Team.