Jason Garrett gives Mike McCarthy advice on being Cowboys head coach

This isn’t the first time you’ll hear this and it won’t be the last… being a coach or player on the Dallas Cowboys isn’t easy. When you’re a member of “America’s Team” the spotlight is on you 24/7, and even when you help your team improve, the proverbial hot seat is always warm.

Mike McCarthy has already had to deal with this in his two seasons with the Cowboys. Even though McCarthy is a well-known and well-respected head coach with a Super Bowl championship to his name, his job has been in jeopardy since the day he got it. Even though he took his team from 6-10 to 12-5 in one year, his playoff exit had Cowboys fans asking for his removal.

Then, when Sean Payton (a man who Jerry Jones loves very much) retired as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, that seat got even hotter. McCarthy had his job publically dangled around for weeks by his own boss. Jones even hinted at defensive coordinator Dan Quinn taking the head coaching job.

When the Cowboys head coach spoke about it with Rich Eisen, he candidly said that he wished it wasn’t a narrative he didn’t have to be a part of, but understood what comes with being in this kind of an environment. An environment that Eisen literally compared to the “Hunger Games.”

Someone who knows that environment well is former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. The now broadcaster recently went on Eisen’s podcast to talk about many topics. Four months later, Eisen is still fascinated about how Jones treated McCarthy’s job security. So, he asked Garrett what advice he’d give the current coach about dealing with the Dallas environment.

Jason Garrett gives head coach Mike McCarthy advice on dealing with the whirlwind that is the Cowboys organization

Garrett spent 13 years with the Cowboys as an offensive coordinator and head coach. He has many years of experience dealing with Jones and his shenanigans. However, he kept it PC with Eisen. He never mentioned Jones but rather gave McCarthy advice on dealing with the new 24/7 news cycle where people are constantly trying to get stories and stir things up.

The new “Football Night in America” analyst knows what comes with the territory. These were his wise words to McCarthy:

"Well, I think the biggest thing for any head coach and really for any player in the NFL, is really just focus on yourself and what you need to do to be your best. And I know that’s a cliche, and everyone thinks oh blah it’s coach speak and all of that, but it’s so true. And it’s so true certainly in a place like Dallas. There’s a lot of, there’s a lot of people who make their living speculating about things. And digging things up. And stirring things up. That’s just the world that we live in.And so when you’re in those roles you have to just really focus on what you need to do to be your best. And this was a theme that we tried to use with all of our players through the years. Players getting into Twitter wars and all of this kind of stuff. It’s like hey let’s just lock in on what we need to do each day to be our best. And when you’re preaching that message to your team sometimes you’ve got to preach it to yourself."

Garrett was also incredibly complimentary of his successor. He said he knows McCarthy is a fantastic coach and that he understands what he needs to do to keep himself and his teammates in check.

This role certainly isn’t an easy one. But it’s pretty clear that McCarthy knew that before he signed the deal.