chinch;1832824 said:
with all due respect to the AP fluff piece again Ireland was groomed by Tuna.
imagine ireleands rep here if Jerruh and lacewell were in charge. jeez.
plus lacewell was pushed out the door by tuna, he wasn't going to retire from his plush confines.
alot of generally poor performers (ie. lacewell and jj tandem) make a good call now and again.
you guys need to drop the tuna hate. you can be glad he's gone while still being thankful to his contributions.
prior to Tuna, we have NOT HAD A COACH CONTRIBUTE positively around here since jimmuh for those checking.
wade seems to be another contributor which is great for cowboy fans.
BP did not bring in lacewell I know it sounds good and fits your argument but BP was not the one who brought in Ireland.
IRVING, Texas -- As a kid, Jeff Ireland often sat in a dark room with his grandfather, staring at images of football players projected on a wall. Former NFL running back-turned-scout Jim Parmer spent countless hours explaining what they were watching and shared some insights on how to tell the good ones from the great ones.
Ireland is 34 now, and he's been getting paid to make those evaluations for more than a decade. Next weekend, he'll be in the Dallas Cowboys' draft room, sharing his thoughts with Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells while carrying the title of vice president of college and pro scouting.
Ireland was being groomed for the job practically since joining the organization four years ago. The promotion was so widely understood since predecessor Larry Lacewell retired in January that Jones called the formal announcement Thursday "probably the worst-kept secret in the organization."
"It's no accident that Jeff has the best part of his career ahead of him in terms of his age and his experience," Jones said. "It's very important to me and this organization that we select someone that we could look to work with for a long time. His skills in evaluating football players is beyond any question as far as I'm concerned."
Ireland has been around football most of his life, spending most of his adolescent summers as a ball boy during training camp for the Chicago Bears, the team Parmer scouted for. His stepfather is E.J. Holub, a former star at Texas Tech with the Kansas City Chiefs.
"I've got a football family," Ireland said. "What I know is football."
Ireland was a kicker for Baylor, then spent two years as the special teams coach at North Texas before getting into scouting with the NFL combine from 1994-96. That led to four seasons as an area scout for the Chiefs, the Cowboys hired him in 2001 to be a national scout.
Lacewell was the one who lured Ireland to the organization, telling Jones he was "someone who could someday run this whole show." Jones and Parcells -- who arrived in 2003, about the time Lacewell began planning his retirement -- grew comfortable enough with him to share Lacewell's opinion.
So, what does he look for?
"Big, fast, strong, smart players," he said, adding that he stresses character, too. "I want guys smart enough to not just handle the football side of it, but the pressures of being a professional athlete."
The Cowboys have the 11th and 20th picks in the draft and they're without a third-rounder. They're also coming off a 6-10 season and are considering changing defenses from a 4-3 to a 3-4. That leaves plenty of room for debate as the front office sets its draft board.
"We toss things around and sometimes it might be more than tossing," he said. "We debate things pretty strongly. It's a good situation for everybody to have all their feelings out on the table. Obviously it's an objective atmosphere out there and no feelings are being hurt.
"But the opportunity to get the information on the table is a key working for Bill and for Jerry. It's a great opportunity."
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press
This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index
As you see this was dated back to 2005 and Ireland had already been with the organizations for 4 years which would have been 2001 BP did not hire in until 2003.
