Dallas Cowboys make right call in keeping Mike McCarthy | Williams
Not to take credit, but we wrote this week that firing Mike McCarthy because he can't get the team over the hump would be the wrong move for the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones must have been logging in to check our recommendation.
Sure enough, word broke Wednesday night that the Cowboys' owner has decided to stick with McCarthy as head coach for a year five, the final year of his contract. McCarthy's led Dallas to a 12-5 record three years in a row, but with only one playoff victory to show for it. For a lot of folks, "fire the coach" is the default answer, without nuance, under such circumstances.
It's a tough spot, to be sure. Dallas has one of the most talented rosters in the NFL, yet hasn't risen to the occasion in January for a quarter century now. I'd lean toward giving a guy with a 36-15 record over three years the benefit of the doubt. Easier, in my mind, to change coaches if a clear upgrade is out there.
Yet, some of the names proffered up aren't necessarily that.
Mike Vrabel? His teams are 13-21 the past two years. Only once has he won 12 games — which McCarthy has shown he can do regularly — and only once has he made a conference championship game.
Bill Belichick? There seems to be substance to the argument that he's not so shrewd without Tom Brady. Post-the game's greatest quarterback, Belichick is 29-38 with one playoff appearance in four seasons and no playoff wins.
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Jim Harbaugh's a hot name right now, having just led Michigan to the championship of the College Football Playoff. How odd that his name should be brought up as a possible solution for the Cowboys. This is the same Jim Harbaugh who, when hired in 2015, inherited a three-game losing streak for Michigan against Ohio State and turned it into an eight-game losing streak. Could win, couldn't beat the Buckeyes. A lot in maize and blue wanted to fire him for that.
The knock on McCarthy: Can win, can't win in the playoffs. A lot in silver and blue wanted to fire him for that. Michigan's loyalty to Harbaugh wound up being rewarded. His teams have not only turned the tables on Ohio State; now the Wolverines sit atop the college football world.
"Three, four years ago, when people wanted me to get rid of him, I didn't, because I believed in him," UM athletics director Warde Manuel said after the national-title game.
Harbaugh vindicated Manuel. McCarthy may or may not vindicate Jones, but sticking with him is the right move.
■ With their season over, we now know where the Cowboys will pick in the first round of the NFL draft: at No. 24.
■ Former Texas Tech defensive back Douglas Coleman signed this past week with the Chicago Bears. Coleman had been with the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks since the middle of the 2021 season. Playing linebacker, he was credited this season with 60 tackles, four sacks and three interceptions as well as scoring two touchdowns.
Coleman still holds the Tech record for longest fumble return with his 100-yard runback for a touchdown against Texas in 2016.
■ It was quite a year for former Red Raiders in Canada. Calgary Stampeders linebacker Micah Awe racked up 134 defensive tackles (the CFL differentiates stops on defense from those on special teams), a franchise record and third most in CFL history. He earned All-CFL recognition for the first time. Awe also was credited with four tackles for loss, two sacks and three interceptions.
Awe, a CFL player since 2017, was in his first season with Calgary after stops with British Columbia, Toronto, Ottawa and British Columbia again.
Awe lettered for the Red Raiders from 2012-15, making a team-high 126 tackles as a senior. He earned a degree from Tech in petroleum engineering.
■ Texas Tech sprinter Don'Dre Swint blazed through the 60 meters in 6.52 seconds in the season-opening Stan Scott Memorial. With the altitude conversion to 6.54 seconds, Swint ranks second in NCAA Division I.
Swint is a half-brother of former Red Raiders football safety Marquis Waters, who recently signed with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts. Waters is 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, and Swint goes 5-6 and 167. Their hometown is Delray Beach, Florida.
■ Art Baker, a charter member of Jim Carlen's Texas Tech football staff, died this past week in his hometown of Sumter, South Carolina. He was 94.
Carlen hired Baker as offensive backfield coach in January 1970. Baker resigned after the 1972 regular season, before the Red Raiders ended the season at the Sun Bowl, to become head coach at Furman. He had the latter job through 1977 before moving on to be head coach at The Citadel from 1978-82 and East Carolina from 1985-88.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Dallas Cowboys make right call in keeping Mike McCarthy | Williams
