FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is operating under business-as-usual conditions after meeting twice with owner and general manager Jerry Jones following Sunday’s wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
McCarthy met with Jones immediately after the game and again on Monday and does not see his future as an issue.
“We had very positive conversations and, just, the focus is on the evaluation process,” McCarthy said.
Speaking on 105.3 The Fan on Monday, executive vice president Stephen Jones said, “absolutely,” and “very confident,” when asked whether McCarthy would return for a third season.
McCarthy has an 18-15 regular-season record in two seasons, including a 12-5 mark in 2021 that saw the Cowboys win the NFC East; however, they were the only home team to lose in the first round of the playoffs.
After a 13-year run in Green Bay, McCarthy, who has a 143-92-2 regular-season record and 10-9 playoff mark, understands the speculation.
“I think for people in this profession, it’s accepted,” he said. “It’s part of the job. I get that. I understand why you’re asking the question. It’s part of the job. You have a job to do, and I have a job to do here today in answering your questions appropriately and respectfully. But, yeah, I don’t put a lot into it because I know personally what I put into this.
“I understand what goes on here every day. I know how to win. I know how to win in this league. I know how to win playoff games. I know how to win a championship. So I have great confidence in that. What we’ve built here in two seasons, I feel very good about, and I think with that you just stay true to that. The hard part is the personal. We all have kids, so that’s the part that I don’t like. I would hope people are respectful to that.”
McCarthy, who signed a five-year contract with the Cowboys in 2020, acknowledged that the 2022 Cowboys will look a lot different from the 2021 Cowboys. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore have multiple interviews set up for open head-coaching jobs.
McCarthy did not rule out potential changes on the coaching staff whether or not Quinn and Moore stay with the team. The Cowboys have 21 players, including many key contributors, set to become unrestricted free agents, and the team also faces a challenging salary-cap situation.
Yet McCarthy said he has faith things will be better next season.
“No. 1, I trust our personnel process,” McCarthy said. “I think the collaboration [with the personnel department], just what we did last year to this year, I mean, my goodness. The change we had on defense, from a personnel and coaching staff standpoint, that was the biggest change I’ve ever been part of, both the player and coaching side. So to pull all of that together, there was a lot of hard work and a lot of credit that goes to a number of people. I have the same confidence that we’ll do that moving forward. Now, it’s going to be a challenge; I know you can’t keep everybody, but [for] every team, that’s the era that we’re in.
“We’ll go through that and count on another really excellent draft class to go with the two that we have. No, you got to remember, I’ve coached the youngest team in the league for a number of years. I have great belief in that draft and develop. This will probably hopefully be the first year that we can have a normal offseason program, so I think with that, the combination of veteran and young players we have, I think we definitely can take a step forward.”
