Friday, January 9, 1998

Cowboys accept Switzer's resignation after 6-10 season

By Jean-Jacques Taylor

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones has accepted the resignation of Coach Barry Switzer, a source close to the team said late Thursday night.

The source said a formal announcement will be made sometime during the next three days. Switzer gave Jones his resignation earlier this week, the source said.

Jones, Switzer and Cowboys' vice president Stephen Jones could not be reached for comment.

"If this is true, it comes as a surprise to me," defensive coordinator Dave Campo said. "Barry will always be special to me because he gave me an opportunity to be a coordinator."

Switzer's resignation does not mean there will be wholesale changes in the Cowboys' coaching staff.

Jerry Jones has said he has extended the contracts of several assistant coaches, though he would not say which ones.

Three coaches - offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, offensive line coach Hudson Houck and special teams' coach Joe Avezzano - have contracts that run through next season. Jones has said that whoever is the fourth head coach in the Cowboys' illustrious history will have to accept those assistants.

Since the season ended three weeks ago, speculation has been rampant that Switzer would either be fired or would resign. While Jones had refused to acknowledge he intended to fire Switzer, he frequently answered questions about searching for a coach.

Switzer ends his Cowboys' career with a 45-26 record and a .633 winning percentage. He had a .709 winning percentage (39-16) in his first three seasons.

Switzer's resignation ends a turbulent four-year tenure with the Cowboys that has been filled with highs and lows. The Cowboys won a Super Bowl under him in 1995, but this season finished 6-10, lost their last five games and missed the playoffs.

Dallas had not missed the playoffs since 1990, when the team finished 7-9.

There has been season-long speculation that this would be Switzer's last season. It began in August, when Switzer was arrested for carrying a loaded gun into Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, and it reached an apex Tuesday when he failed to appear at a news conference announcing the signing of Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen to a contract that made him the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history.

The Cowboys said Switzer did not attend because he had a personal matter to attend to.

Switzer has taken much of the blame for the Cowboys' fall from the NFL's elite. He has been criticized primarily for losing control of the team. Several players and coaches have said the players had poor practices this season, which contributed to their sub-par performance.

Switzer was hired to be a players' coach and give the players a little more leeway after the strict, disciplined tenure of Jimmy Johnson, who led the Cowboys to their first two Super Bowl wins this decade.

From 1973 to 1988, Switzer led Oklahoma to a 157-29-4 record and accumulated an .837 winning percentage. That gave him the fourth-highest mark in college history behind Notre Dame's Knute Rockne (.881) and Frank Leahy (.864) and Carlisle's George Woodruff.

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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