Jason Garrett Officially Out As Dallas Cowboys Head Coach, Team Announces
FRISCO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - After a week of will they or won't they, the Dallas Cowboys have made their final decision and are officially moving on from head coach Jason Garrett.
The team and owner Jerry Jones announced Sunday evening that they will not be renewing Garrett's contract as it expires this month, putting an end to his nine and a half years as coach.
"We are extremely grateful to Jason Garrett for his more than 20 years of service to the Dallas Cowboys as a player, assistant coach and head coach," Jones said Sunday.
The Cowboys made the decision after missing the playoffs this season with an 8-8 record despite a promising offseason.
Dallas' playoff hopes this season came down to a matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, but they couldn't come up with the decisive win. The Eagles' win against the New York Giants in the last game of the season ultimately sealed their fate, along with the Cowboys'.
Jones had nothing but praise for his now-former coach despite the disappointing season.
"Jason Garrett's legacy with the Dallas Cowboys will always be that of someone who strived for greatness every day that he walked through the door, and as someone who instilled the virtues of enthusiasm, hard work and appreciation for the profession in all of the men who played with him and for him," Jones said.
Garrett first joined the Cowboys' coaching staff as an offensive coordinator in 2007. He became the team's interim head coach in 2010 after then-coach Wade Phillips was fired in the middle of that season.
Garrett then finished the last half of the 2010 season with a 5-3 record, leading him to become the team's eighth head coach in Cowboys' history.
However, the excitement over Garrett had its ups and downs as moments of greatness would turn to disappointment in the snap of a finger. As many have said regarding Garrett's tenure as the coach, he was "consistently inconsistent."
Dallas finished with an 8-8 record four times during his time as coach and missed the playoffs six times. The Cowboys did, however, win the NFC East division title in 2014, 2016 and 2018, but those three playoff appearances ended with only two wins and a lot of frustration among fans.
The Cowboys were bounced out of the playoffs last season by the Los Angeles Rams after they defeated the Seattle Seahawks. Despite not getting far into the playoffs, many fans and analysts had high hopes for the Cowboys going into this season as they had a talented roster that included Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and DeMarcus Lawrence and a new offensive coordinator in Kellen Moore.
It was Super Bowl or bust for Garrett this season, but his team, ultimately, couldn't even play more football after Week 17.
After a week filled with reports of meetings between Garrett and Jerry and Stephen Jones and a cloud of mysterious surrounding The Star in Frisco, the Cowboys made their ultimate decision.
"[Garrett] is, and always will remain, a cherished member of the Dallas Cowboys family, and his contributions to the organization are greatly appreciated," Jerry Jones said Sunday.
The search for the ninth coach in the team's history is now underway and whoever the Cowboys decide to go with will be going in with expectations already at an all-time high.
Dallas reportedly began their search this weekend as they interviewed former Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy. The team also reportedly has interest in college coaches such as Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley, Baylor's Matt Rhule and former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer.