About Tom Ciskowski...

[TVMan]

Tom Ciskowski snippets.

Dallas Assistant Director of College Scouting Tom Ciskowski worked with the defensive line as a graduate assistant at Arizona State University during the 1980-81 seasons.



Keeping up with Jones
Cowboys owner was a surprisingly strong draft presence
Posted: Friday April 26, 2002 1:49 PM
Updated: Friday April 26, 2002 8:02 PM

http://images.si.com/inside_game/peter_king/news/2002/04/26/king_insider/


Jones ran the meetings, and the draft, as if he were some combination of shrink and traffic cop. He sucked in all the information, looked at the alternatives and made decisions. He has quality scouts. I still think he needs that Ron Wolf-type guy, the ultimate confidant he doesn't seem to have in the room right now. Maybe it'll turn out to be assistant director of college scouting Tom Ciskowski, a worker bee Jones rightfully likes. But if he can't find it on staff, he should find it elsewhere.


June 24, 2006
The Sports Xchange

--Cowboys chief college scout Tom Ciskowski interviewed for the vice president of player personnel position with Rams but did not get the job. The Rams chose Tony Softli for the position.


Updated: July 10, 2006

Whispers from around the NFL

Pro Football Weekly

Though he was beaten out for the Rams' VP of player personnel job by Tony Softli, Cowboys chief college scout Tom Ciskowski is considered a rising star and legitimate GM candidate in the near future.


End of the line: Cowboys release Allen

01:37 AM CST on Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Back in 1994, assistant director of college scouting Tom Ciskowski made a hard sell for the Cowboys to draft Mr. Allen after his dominating performance at the East-West Shrine Game. On draft day, trainer Jim Maurer told Mr. Jones and coach Barry Switzer to ignore rumors that Mr. Allen had a serious shoulder injury.

"When he started falling down the board – we had him ranked high – I remember Tom and [offensive line coach] Hudson Houck ran into the office next door," Mr. Lacewell said, "and looked at the film one more time to make sure we saw what we saw."

http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/news/dmn/stories/032206dnspocowallen.4a6f0425.html


Flexibility gives Cowboys 'best' option

Thanks to solid core, team can draft top players available

10:42 PM CDT on Thursday, April 26, 2007

On Monday, Jones went through the team's evaluation process, starting with the reports of the area scouts to the cross-checking done by national scout Mike Murphy, assistant director of college scouting Tom Ciskowski and vice president of college and pro scouting Jeff Ireland, to the opinions of the coaches.

http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/042707dnspocowlede.10c160d5.html

 

[theebs]

he has been here since 1992, he was part of that miami group that kept showing up here, he worked for butch davis there.

 

[Alexander]

he has been here since 1992, he was part of that miami group that kept showing up here, he worked for butch davis there.

I certainly hope his eye for talent is nothing like Davis'.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Ron Wolf, I'd forgotten about that name. He does know Jerry. I wonder if Wolf would be a consideration for GM? That would be interesting indeed.

 

[superpunk]

Ron Wolf, I'd forgotten about that name. He does know Jerry. I wonder if Wolf would be a consideration for GM? That would be interesting indeed.

Jerry be the GM, yarrr..... I would think the most sure way to keep this train rolling is promoting from within, keeping our current evaluation system in place.

 

[ddh33]

I don't mean anything at all sinister about this, but I wonder if Ireland was viewed more as a "Parcells guys" while Ciskowski is more of a "Cowboys guy".

I think Jerry was classy to let Ireland go to Miami, but I also think that he really values Ciskowski and the job he does. I don't think he feels like he's losing anything.

 

[Dodger12]

Some have posted that Tom Ciskowski being here for so many years under Lacewell is a negative thing. I think it's very positive, as Tom C has seen the good, the bad and the ugly and just adds to his experience that he can draw on. I was pretty depressed about Ireland yesterday but the more I read and hear about Ciskowski, it makes me believe the man can get the job done.

 

[Randy White]

I certainly hope his eye for talent is nothing like Davis'.

Why ?

 

[Sasquatch]

Everyone appears eager to anoint Ciskowski the next great personnel genius in the hope that Ireland's departure will not mean a swift and terrifying return to the days when Jerry drafted Quincy Carter. Maybe the most significant changes that have made since that time are philosophical and structural in terms of how decisions are made, so that we needn't keep searching for reassurance that there is a competent "football guy" who will be able to save the team from a delusional Jerry Jones. Just a thought.

 

[khiladi]

Everyone appears eager to anoint Ciskowski the next great personnel genius in the hope that Ireland's departure will not mean an swift and terrifying return to the days when Jerry drafted Quincy Carter. Maybe the most significant changes that have made since that time are philosophical and structural in terms of how decisions are made, so that we needn't keep searching for reassurance that there is a competent "football guy" who will be able to save the team from a delusional Jerry Jones. Just a thought.

Well, there is already a philosophical change that has come with Wade. He says that he gives more input to the scouts overall, and they are the one's that need to be in on 100 percent of the decisions regarding players. The scouting department is going to play a more pre-dominant role I think....

 

[Alexander]

Why ?

His drafts ruined the Browns until they just started recovering.

William Green and Gerard Warren were two of the biggest draft busts in recent years.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

I hope Spencer gets a chance in the playoffs

 

[theebs]

His drafts ruined the Browns until they just started recovering.

William Green and Gerard Warren were two of the biggest draft busts in recent years.

Dwight Clark had a little something to do with that!

and mickey spagnola said today he thinks Brian gaine, hired by parcells and an east coast guy will go to miami in some capacity. He is our director of pro personell.

 

[texbumthelife]

I certainly hope his eye for talent is nothing like Davis'.

You are aware that Butch is responsible for building those juggernaut Miami teams of the early millennium right? He drafted a few busts, big deal. The NFL draft has about as good of odds as the craps table. Warren was a straight up bust while Green just had some unfortunate luck and untimely injuries. He showed some real flashes though.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Dwight Clark had a little something to do with that!

and mickey spagnola said today he thinks Brian gaine, hired by parcells and an east coast guy will go to miami in some capacity. He is our director of pro personell.

I wouldn't let him, assuming he's under contract. Ireland, okay. But why should we let everyone go?

 

[Mavs Man]

His drafts ruined the Browns until they just started recovering.

William Green and Gerard Warren were two of the biggest draft busts in recent years.

Tim Couch and Courtney Brown also come to mind.

Edit: Doh, wrong coach - Chris Palmer, right?

 

[InmanRoshi]

You are aware that Butch is responsible for building those juggernaut Miami teams of the early millennium right?

Just like Pete Carroll, Butch is great in college when he can just recruit the top 25-30 kids in the country, keep the ones that pan out and run off the ones that don't, and then bring in 25-30 more kids the following year. In the Pros, when you only get to bring in maybe 6-10 new guys every year and need a little better percentage rate, he's also just like Pete Carroll ... horrible. Butch recruited a young man I'm familiar with from a small town I have family in. The kid was a track star, probably ran in the high 4.3's, but was raw and really wasn't much of a football player. Butch gave him a scholarship, but he didn't do much, and after a year Butch told him he'd be better off going elsewhere to play college. You can do that in college, you just give the scholarship to some other kid next year, but when you take a big chance in the NFL first round and it doesn't pan out you'll never have that draft pick back. There was an ongoing joke that Butch Davis never met a troubled player he didn't think he could turn around. See William Green. You know who was primarily responsible for drafting Shante Carver? Good ole' Butch, who fell in love with Shante after working with him at the Senior Bowl practices.

A lot has been made that there was a 3 way democracy in the Parcells era of Ireland, Parcells and Jerry of majority rule ... with Jerry ultimately given final say if he felt it was required. Well, two of the three voters are now gone. It's no longer a democracy, it's now a monarchy. Ciskowski might be fully capable as a manager and might have a great eye for detail, but one thing that always impressed me about Ireland when I heard him interviewed is he had command and presence. Does Ciskowski? Will Ciskowski stand up to Jerry if he goes off the deep end? Frankly, I don't care if it's Ciskowski or Bozo the Clown, I just want to make sure that the Oklahoma/Arkansas Good Ole Boy Club is never reunited again. Lacewell and Switzer should be banned for a lifetime from ever entering the Ranch.

FWIW, Ron Wolf was mentioned upthread, he was sitting next to Parcells at the Dolphins game last weekend giving input.

 

[Doomsday101]

Just like Pete Carroll, he's great in college when he can just recruit the top 25-30 kids in the country, keep the ones that pan out and run off the ones that don't, and then bring in 25-30 more kids the following year. In the Pros, when you only get to bring in maybe 6-10 new guys every year and need a little better percentage rate, just also just like Pete Carroll ... horrible. There was an ongoing joke that Butch Davis never met a troubled player he didn't think he could turn around. See William Green. You know who was primarily responsible for drafting Shante Carver? Good ole' Butch, who fell in love with Shante after working with him at the Senior Bowl practices.

A lot has been made that there was a 3 way democracy in the Parcells era of Ireland, Parcells and Jerry of majority rule ... with Jerry ultimately given final say if he felt it was required. Well, two of the three voters are now gone. It's no longer a democracy, it's now a monarchy. Ciskowski might be fully capable as a manager and might have a great eye for detail, but one thing that always impressed me about Ireland when I heard him interviewed is he had command and presence. Does Ciskowski? Will Ciskowski stand up to Jerry if he thinks he's going off the deep end?

Jerry is the one who changed how the draft would be done. The scouting department will have a big role in who we select and that I don't think will change.

 

[Hostile]

Everyone appears eager to anoint Ciskowski the next great personnel genius in the hope that Ireland's departure will not mean a swift and terrifying return to the days when Jerry drafted Quincy Carter. Maybe the most significant changes that have made since that time are philosophical and structural in terms of how decisions are made, so that we needn't keep searching for reassurance that there is a competent "football guy" who will be able to save the team from a delusional Jerry Jones. Just a thought.

You know what it is for me? I just know that change is inevitable once we are successful. Over the years of watching guys get hired away from Dallas to other organizations I've just become immune to it. In many ways I am very proud of it. I think it shows the franchise in a very positive light. I consider that a great thing.

Years ago I used to love to play ping pong and I was pretty decent at it. At a student union building there was a guy no one liked to play because he was so good. So I started playing him. At first he would play me left handed and still give me a run for my money. Then as it started getting tilted heavily to my favor he switched to his right hand and for a while he slaughtered me. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I ever beat the guy because I never did. Not right handed anyway. But just playing him I got better and better.

If Ireland is as good as people say then he is bound to have left footprints of how to get it done and people pick up on those footprints and start tracking the same game. There's not a doubt in my mind that Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi learned from Jim Lee Howell. Dan Reeves, Mike Ditka, & Dick Nolan learned from Landry. Walsh's disciples learned from him. And so on.

I think we're fine because no one man holds everything together no matter how good he is. It's a team effort and the pieces of the team across the board were valuable and contributed. So, I'm happy for Ireland and think he deserves it. Besides, it was inevitable.

I'd rather be successful and lose people, than keep everyone and never have seasons like this.

 

[Chief]

Just like Pete Carroll, Butch is great in college when he can just recruit the top 25-30 kids in the country, keep the ones that pan out and run off the ones that don't, and then bring in 25-30 more kids the following year. In the Pros, when you only get to bring in maybe 6-10 new guys every year and need a little better percentage rate, he's also just like Pete Carroll ... horrible. Butch recruited a young man I'm familiar with from a small town I have family in. The kid was a track star, probably ran in the high 4.3's, but was raw and really wasn't much of a football player. Butch gave him a scholarship, but he didn't do much, and after a year Butch told him he'd be better off going elsewhere to play college. You can do that in college, you just give the scholarship to some other kid next year, but when you take a big chance in the NFL first round and it doesn't pan out you'll never have that draft pick back. There was an ongoing joke that Butch Davis never met a troubled player he didn't think he could turn around. See William Green. You know who was primarily responsible for drafting Shante Carver? Good ole' Butch, who fell in love with Shante after working with him at the Senior Bowl practices.

A lot has been made that there was a 3 way democracy in the Parcells era of Ireland, Parcells and Jerry of majority rule ... with Jerry ultimately given final say if he felt it was required. Well, two of the three voters are now gone. It's no longer a democracy, it's now a monarchy. Ciskowski might be fully capable as a manager and might have a great eye for detail, but one thing that always impressed me about Ireland when I heard him interviewed is he had command and presence. Does Ciskowski? Will Ciskowski stand up to Jerry if he goes off the deep end? Frankly, I don't care if it's Ciskowski or Bozo the Clown, I just want to make sure that the Oklahoma/Arkansas Good Ole Boy Club is never reunited again. Lacewell and Switzer should be banned for a lifetime from ever entering the Ranch.

FWIW, Ron Wolf was mentioned upthread, he was sitting next to Parcells at the Dolphins game last weekend giving input.

I agree.

I remember reading that Jimmy Johnson had to take into account his coach's evaluation style when listening to their opinions. He said Butch thought every player was great and Tony Wise thought every player sucked.

I've met Butch and like him a lot, but his track record at Cleveland was pretty bad. And those were his picks, by the way.

Anyway, a friend of mine called yesterday and said it was the worst day in Cowboys' history since Dave Campo was hired in 2000. He's convinced that Ireland was a huge loss.

I guess we'll all see.