Cowboys announce that Mike McCarthy will return
It's official. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy will be back for a fifth year on the job.
"I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach," Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said in a statement issued on Wednesday night. "There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress under Mike's leadership as our head coach.
"Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike's approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular-season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals.
"Certainly, Mike's career has demonstrated postseason success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue."
They surely had confidence they would beat the Packers, too. And they were humiliated at home.
But if they're going to keep McCarthy, the next question is whether he gets a contract extension. Or will he instead be coaching in the final year of his original deal.
It also would be interesting to know what happened behind the scenes over the past three days. How close did the Cowboys come to making a change? Did quarterback Dak Prescott, whom they desperately need to extend his deal this offseason in order to chop down a $59.4 million cap charge for 2024, make a power play, insisting that McCarthy return or else there will be no new contract?
Regardless, he's back. Plenty of Cowboys fans are already upset. And rightfully so. Despite the boasting about his regular-season winning percentage in Dallas, McCarthy is merely 1-3 in the playoffs with the Cowboys.
