Wednesday, January 28, 1998

Jerry Jones plans to continue talks with Cowboys candidates

By Josie Karp

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - After his busiest day of interviewing head-coaching candidates Monday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he would continue talks on Tuesday with the three men he spoke to.

Two of those candidates - former San Francisco 49ers coach George Seifert and Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis - said Tuesday that they had not heard from Jones. Former UCLA coach Terry Donahue, who met with Jones for a second time Monday, couldn't be reached for comment.

Jones spent only a portion of the day at the team's Valley Ranch headquarters. Team vice president Stephen Jones worked out of his office there for most of the day before heading home shortly after 6 p.m.

Asked if Jerry Jones had made a final decision on a successor to Barry Switzer, Stephen Jones said: "I don't think so."

Stephen Jones added that "making the right choice" is more important than making a quick one. Jerry Jones said Monday that he understood the necessity for a timely decision, because several Cowboys assistant coaches have contracts that expire Feb. 1.

Earlier this month, Jones told his assistants they were free to pursue other jobs. Cowboys offensive line coach Hudson Houck said several teams have asked for, and been granted, permission to speak to him. Houck would not specify which teams.

The three head-coaching candidates were home after Monday interviews in San Diego, site of Sunday's Super Bowl, and were waiting to hear what the Joneses' next move will be.

Seifert checked out of his San Diego hotel around noon and said he was heading back to his home in Northern California.

"All I should really say is there are a number of great candidates," said Seifert, who added that he had not been contacted by Jerry Jones on Tuesday and "nothing specific" had been established about any further contact.

Lewis, meanwhile, attended a Packers season celebration in Green Bay and also said he had not heard from Jones.

"He said he would get back to me in the next few days. I don't know if I'll hear from him later or" on Wednesday, Lewis said late Tuesday afternoon.

Lewis hopes his first meeting with Jones, which took place just hours after the Packers lost to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII, was not his last.

"It's up to him if he's interested in talking again. I'd like to," Lewis said. "I said to him (Monday) I'd like to think of that meeting as a preliminary, get-to-know-you session, not an interview. It was a tough time, when you're hurting (from the loss) and you have that empty feeling, and mentally you're not in the right frame of mind. I think he understands that, too."

Stephen Jones said he did not believe that Donahue had been contacted on Tuesday.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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