“We Are Dead in the Water”: Skip Bayless Claims Jerry Jones is the “Real Coach” of the Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys’ search for a new head coach is in full swing with Mike McCarthy fired following a disappointing 7-10 season. After Jerry Jones’ “productive meeting” with Deion Sanders, many analysts, including Michael Irvin, urged Jones to hire Sanders at any cost. However, veteran analyst Skip Bayless has a major concern about Jerry Jones.

According to Bayless, for the past three decades, Jerry Jones has been the “real coach” of the Cowboys. Bayless’ argument is that Jerry operates the team in a way that limits the freedom of the head coach, a situation he believes has contributed significantly to the downfall of “America’s Team.” This would also limit the autonomy of any new coach, including Deion Sanders. 

“The real coach of our Dallas Cowboys has been Gerald Wayne Jones Jr. — Jerry Jones. The most famous owner in the history of sports whose team is the most valuable in all of sports. He is the owner, and trust me, the operator of our Dallas Cowboys, and we are stuck. We are dead in the water,” Skip explained on his YouTube channel.

Elaborating his point, Skip recalled that just a year into owning the Cowboys, Jerry expressed confidence in his own coaching abilities, which was a cause for concern, since they already had one active head coach at that time. 

“Jerry Jones once said, about a year into owning the Cowboys, he told Frank Deford for a Vanity Fair piece, ‘I could coach the s**t out of this team.’ That’s a quote from Jerry Jones as a young owner.”

Notably, Jerry has never had any formal coaching experience with any NFL team.

Skip offered a critical insight into Jerry’s stance that “there are 500 coaches” who would be ready to coach the Cowboys. Bayless contends that with the limited autonomy Jerry offers his head coaches, at least 10 to 15 top-tier candidates would be hesitant to work with him.

“He told a couple of Dallas Morning News reporters that 500 coaches could coach the Dallas Cowboys. He said it again a couple of weeks ago when he was asked how many coaches would want to coach the Cowboys if Jerry fired Mike McCarthy.”

Skip’s critical insights should serve as a reality check for Jerry Jones. Despite the Cowboys’ five Super Bowl victories, their last big win came in 1996, nearly three decades ago. That long gap without a championship raises many hard questions about the future of America’s team.