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Jason Smith and Steve DeSaegher discuss how Jerry Jones' decision to hold onto Mike McCarthy until his contract formally expired made it immensely difficult for other teams to go through the interviewing process with him.
Jason Smith:
“Nobody knew that Mike McCarthy was gonna be available. So, for teams like the Jets and Bears, who knew they were going to have openings, they started researching candidates like Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Mike Vrabel—all these guys. When Mike McCarthy is thrown into the mix, it’s like, Can we really hire the guy? Sure, we like him. He’s been a really good head coach—he won the Super Bowl with the Packers, and he’s won 12 games with the Cowboys. But how serious of a candidate can he be when he comes into the process so late? I mean, late in the research, late in the background checks, late in the calls that need to be made. At that point, it’s really impossible to hire him. Jerry Jones absolutely screwed him by letting him stay. If you’re not gonna let him go, then just let him move on to something else.”
Steve DeSaegher:
“Or Jerry Jones thinks we’ll talk after the regular season ends, bad as the year was. The contract is up, but we can just get an agreement on extending this thing. And when they couldn’t come to an agreement, then here it is—January 13th, after the regular season, when obviously other teams are already going through their candidates for their openings. Some have had openings for a while because some coaches lost their jobs during the season... Kliff Kingsbury, for example, decides, I’m not gonna interview for the Saints head coaching job. I’m gonna stay in Washington. But you know how crammed it was, even with Ben Johnson and the team making a run in the playoffs, and with Kingsbury’s Washington team making a run too. It kind of reminds me of the offseason craziness in college football, how recruiting overlaps with bowl games, so the schedule for one thing is stacked on top of another. It would be easier if all these interviews and front office decisions could happen later in January, up until the new league year begins in mid-March.”