Friday, February 13, 1998

Cowboys hire Gailey as head coach

By Josie Karp

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - Ending a 34-day search that included interviews of four candidates in three states, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones yesterday anointed Chan Gailey, the red-headed son of a football coach from Americus, Ga., the fourth head coach in team history.

Jones said he consulted around 100 people, including former players and colleagues, before settling on a long-shot candidate who got his first interview on Sunday.

Gailey, 46, flanked by his wife and two sons, said yesterday marked a dream come true.

"But this is just the beginning of the dream in my opinion," Gailey said. "This is something and a place that I wanted to be, but it is just a start of that dream. AnOt6Y9 part of that dream is when (Jones) and I and the coaches and the players get to stand on that podium some late January afternoon and have a hand on that Lombardi Trophy, too. That's the next part of the dream."

For Jones, that cannot happen too soon. The owner has indicated he expects the Cowboys to compete for the Super Bowl next season after a two-year absence from the league's championship game.

Gailey, offensive coordinator the past two years for the Pittsburgh Steelers, did not emerge as a candidate to replace Barry Switzer until last weekend. Jones had already conducted extensive interviews with former UCLA coach Terry Donahue, former San Francisco 49ers coach George Seifert and current Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis.

"Any one of these people, in my mind, could have made a great coach for this situation," Jones said. "In the end I wanted somebody that had proven he was excellent on the offensive side of the ball, yet he had head coaching experience, NFL experience and I knew how bad he wanted the job."

Less than an hour after concluding his inaugural news conference as head coach of the Cowboys, Gailey was getting comfortable in the office recently vacated by Switzer. It had stood vacant so long that a layer of dust built up on the imposing wood desk. Gailey's wife, Laurie, stood wiping it off with a napkin and water.

It was the last place the Gaileys imagined being a week ago.

"You hope you're good enough. You hope you're qualified enough. You hope you get the opportunity. But to say this was on my mind a week ago, it wasn't," Gailey said.

But now that he was there, Gailey talked about staying, for a long time.

"When we get to the end of this thing years from now, hopefully decades from now, in my opinion the end of the dream, the final dream will be that that's how we did it: We were champions, winners with class and character," Gailey said. "That's where I'm coming from. That's what I'm about."

Jones initially offered the job to Donahue nearly two weeks ago, a source said, but the two never resumed talks after Donahue left Jones' Highland Park mansion Feb. 2 without completing a deal. Among the stumbling blocks was Jones' contract proposal, which a source said started at $500,000, near the bottom of what most NFL head coaches make.

Jones said Gailey signed a five-year contract. No contract details were disclosed.

Jones resumed his search last weekend, first asking the Steelers for permission to speak to Gailey Saturday evening. The two met Sunday afternoon at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. That night, Gailey and team vice president Stephen Jones dined together at an Indianapolis restaurant.

The next day, Jerry Jones and Gailey met for several hours at an Indianapolis hotel and continued talking aboard Jones' jet back to Dallas. After a day-long meeting Tuesday, Gailey returned to Pittsburgh that night and, approximately 24 hours later, was offered the job and whisked back to Dallas in the early morning hours Thursday.

"It has happened fast, but I think it has happened well," Gailey said. "I don't think we rushed it."

Jones insisted all four known finalists were viable candidates until he finally decided on Gailey at approximately 10 p.m. Wednesday. But Donahue disputes that.

"A week ago Monday, when I left Dallas it was a fait accompli that I was not going to be the coach of the Dallas Cowboys," Donahue said. "Philosophical differences and football considerations dictated it was not in the best interest of me or my family and Jerry Jones and the organization to continue our discussions."

Jones outlined a list of criteria he finally settled on for picking the new coach and said Gailey met all of them: a highly innovative and creative offensive-minded coach, a proven play-caller with big-game experience, someone with head coaching experience, someone with NFL experience, someone who had played the quarterback position and a coach who could relate well to quarterback Troy Aikman.

Jones and Gailey made it clear who will run the team in general and who will run the offense. The former job still belongs to Jones. The latter will fall to Gailey, who hasn't decided if he will name an offensive coordinator.

"Everybody in this room knows the final decision goes through this gentleman (Jones) right here," Gailey said, pointing to Jones. "He's going to have a great working relationship with me and the entire team, and we're going to make decisions that are best for this football team. I know he's going to make the ultimate decisions about things on this team. We all know that. Everybody knows that."

Part of Jones' involvement includes his presence at team and coaching meetings and his personnel decisions.

Gailey said he will call the offensive plays, design the game plan and handle all details about the offense.

"We may have an offensive coordinator in name, but I'll end up running the offense," Gailey said.

In addition to offensive coordinator, the Cowboys also need a tight ends coach to replace Robert Ford and might add more defensive coaches.

It is the Cowboys offense, however, that is in most desperate need of help. Under former offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese, the Cowboys finished 20th in the league in total offense, rushing offense and passing offense last season.

Gailey said it was too soon to outline a detailed plan to resurrect the offense.

"We have a lot of ground to cover with how things have been, where we want to be, what I've done," Gailey said. "There are a lot of things that need to be addressed before I spout off about with how things are going to happen right now."

His immediate plans include one more day in North Texas before returning tonight to Pittsburgh. He plans to return Monday to focus on free agency.

Before meeting with the team as a whole, Gailey said he plans to meet with as many players on an individual basis as possible. Those meetings will conclude a whirlwind week that saw Gailey go from a little known coordinator to head coach of arguably the most visible franchise in professional sports.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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