How do most fans not consider Barry Switzer a SB winning coach but would consider Garrett one!
For me it would be because Switzer walked into a team that was loaded and ready to go because someone else built it up from scratch, while Garrett has completely re-made the roster from an old, over priced team to one of the youngest, most talented units in the league.
When Garrett first got the job he said he wanted a tough, physical team that played smashmouth football and then he went out and methodically re-made the roster into just that. He had a vision for what he wanted the team to be and what type of players he wanted brought in to Dallas.
There is no doubt that Garrett has made his mistakes in game day coaching, and has been learning on the job, and I get why fans say an NFL team should never have a coach learning as he goes. However, Garrett has indeed done a lot of learning along the way and I tend to break his tenure down into two parts: 2011-2013 and 2014-present.
2011-2013 was when he did his major learning on the job and was figuring out what he was doing while he rebuilt the team into what he wanted. He went 8-8 in every one of these seasons and some coaching mistakes actually kept the team out of the playoffs, IMO, at least one of those seasons.
2014 forward, he had pretty much changed the team over and had it playing the way he wanted. In this period we all got a pretty good look at what the team is under Garrett’s leadership. A young, well built roster that is pretty much a playoff contender and has yet to prove it can get to the conference championship. The records in this period are better than the on the job learning period and were: 12-4, 4-12, 13-3, 9-7, and 10-6.
In that period, Dallas has won 3 NFC East title, two wildcard playoff games, and lost in the divisional round all three of those years. That includes replacing the QB and continuing to re-make the roster into one of the youngest in the NFL. It also includes the second most regular season wins since changing over to the new QB.
So, IMO, Garrett has become a better coach and helped make the team into a more talented group. That’s why you won’t hear me say 2 playoff wins in 8 years as a head coach (although that is technically correct). I think he’s a different coach than he was early on. The last few years point to Dallas being a constant contender under his leadership. In short, under Garrett, Dallas has been a team that matters in the playoff conversation pretty much since 2014.
Now Garrett hasn’t been making in-game adjustments like I’d like to see and sometimes the game-plans leave something to be desired, so I understand the group that wants to have him replaced. I get frustrated as well sometimes.
However, it terrifies me what Jerry might do in hiring his replacement. Jason does a lot of good for the franchise in team building and keeping the team engaged, and frankly, I worry about losing that part of his influence.
For me, I think it boils down to the fact that I see Garrett learning from his mistakes and growing every year. It isn’t like the team is terrible and we’re trying to gut it out. Dallas is one of the conference favorites year-in and year-out and has one of the better young teams in the league. I do think Garrett might get over the hump very soon.
If he doesn’t, then fine, get a new coach... but if he finally has gotten to the point where he wins a championship? You absolutely keep him and enjoy the fruits of our patience in him learning as he went. It would be lunacy to let him go after winning the super bowl.
