Friday, July 24, 1998

Camp Chan's operation is more disciplined, more time conscious

By Clarence E. Hill Jr.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Cowboys training camp no longer has the head-banging feel of past years, when the team daily conducted full-speed tackling.

Coach Chan Gailey has yet to turn loose with live hitting and has shunned some of the physical drills that require tackling, such as the middle drill and the inside run.

"Camp Chan" is organized, detail-oriented, time-management conscious and disciplined.

After one week at Midwestern State University, Gailey has implemented his plans for training a football team.

"To me, we've all got a job to do," Gailey said. "I understand their time, and they understand the team time. The key is having everybody on the same page, doing the same things. And it's being most productive with the time you have. It's having a mutual respect for each other."

Gailey has not been an attention-getting screamer, such as Jimmy Johnson, or as laid-back as Barry Switzer. Cowboys players, staff and training camp onlookers repeatedly use one word to describe Gailey's training camp: efficient.

"He's organized," said Cowboys deep snapper Dale Hellestrae, who has endured Cowboys training camps under Johnson, Switzer and now Gailey. "Chan knows what he wants to get done. Everything is done with a purpose for us to get better and headed in the right direction."

Camp Chan has featured two prominent departures from the past - more discipline and more meetings.

Citing "the pace of training camp" and "the demands of training camp," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said there are more meetings than in the past.

"We have always had very successful training camps," Jones said. "I thought we had our most successful training camp last year. The effort is not better. But there are specific things that are different.

"It's more demanding on our staff. Not just in numbers of meetings but in length of meetings. We are definitely spending more time involved in preparation. Everybody understands that this is what it's going to take."

As for the discipline, much has been made of the penalty laps players have to run for committing pre-snap penalties and breaking undisclosed rules. Gailey's impact comes through in this aspect of camp.

"I could fine them $50, but they'd pay that in a heartbeat," Gailey said. "They don't want to run around that field."

Though nobody likes to run them, the players consider it necessary in the wake of the team's penchant for drive-killing penalties during last season's 6-10 campaign.

"It's something good," cornerback Kevin Smith said. "A lot of small penalties hurt us last year. It gets guys mentally prepared to play."

Added Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin: "We welcome anything to make sure that what happened last year doesn't happen this year. If penalty laps are about it, if that's going to make a difference, that's great. You don't see anybody complaining."

Even as the Cowboys try to shy away from comparisons to last year, their descriptions and emphasis on how structured and tidy things are under Gailey are evidence that detailed organization wasn't a strong suit of Switzer or Johnson.

"I hate to compare," Cowboys defensive coordinator Dave Campo said. "But what we are doing is making sure everything is structured as a staff and as a team. We've done that by having meetings with Chan. We know what the practice schedule is going to be like. Here is where we are working. The meetings start on time and end on time. And everything is structured for everybody to be together as a team. That's Chan's strength."

Campo said Gailey's style has made the coaches more accountable.

"I'm more accountable ... because of the newness," Campo said. "For nine years, I had two different coaches. But everything was the same. I never had to adapt. Now I have to kick my game up a notch."

Jones said altering last season's performance was why he hired Gailey, and the training-camp changes are just a byproduct of that decision. He said they are also added proof that Gailey was the right choice.

"All of that fits really well with our goals with when we got here, which was get in here, do some things differently," Jones said. "If you are going to make changes, an individual with his skill, work ethic and penchant for detail is the ideal person to be managing it."

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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