Look I know so many like to give you crap for defending Garrett throughout the years. I even understand your faith in him. He came from the teachings of Jimmy. He even tries to build a team from the same idea. Sadly he was not a newly hired coach from a dominate college team and understood the best talent in college, but he isn't a disciplinarian that Jimmy was either. Say what you will about having the trade of the century, but he knew who and what he wanted and with that trade, Jimmy got the talent he wanted. Jimmy was not given a team of almost playoff caliber players walking in unlike Garrett. Over 9+ years later we are still the same with the drafting of multiple All-Pro's but still at the level Parcells and Phillips left us.... He has had overachieving QB's, top notch #1 WR's, a work horse of a RB in multiple occasions. Not just one mind you...... Even had an offensive line voted top 3 for multiple years recently....
Maybe the scheme is outdated. Maybe not having top 10 players at all positions is the problem seeing we are now in the salary cap days.... Whatever the reason, one thing is constant. Results are not being made and any other coach in the NFL with this much talent would be let go with our record the past 9 years.... Now I see you are saying other than a few divas, he has the respect of the locker room..... That may be very true. It is not hard to be a man's man while being the boss. Most while under your employ would never come out and second guess you in your face or publicly unless they are on their way out or already gone. I speak from experience....
While my career has been in the food industry, I have been a dishwasher, busboy, server, bartender, cook, driver, hot and cold bar manager, chef, back of house manager, front of house manager, bar manager, assistant GM, and general manager. One thing I can say in the almost 27 years of doing this, I feel I have seen it all. I remember working my way to front of house manager and it being my specialty. I was given that promotion because I understood not only all the positions, but because I had the top sales 3 years running. I taught how to up-sell not only the bar drinks, but using the top 5 sales as a way to feature certain foods. Know your menu and the averages goes along way. Knowing each ingredient and being able to work with guest with an allergy made me look even better. Experience says a lot and knowing your craft will be a deciding factor on how successful you are.
I will also go a step further in this and explain the first 2 times I was a front of the house manager. Since I worked my way up through the ranks, I had the respect of all the staff there. I was their friend first. It wasn't until moving to assistant GM that I learned being your friend was not only a fallback, but cost me respect as well. Every employee in the front thought since I understood what they go through, I would be understanding in their decisions when it came to hustling the tip. Sadly when running a successful business, my job was more about marketing, quality control, and making profits overall. Corporate could care less how I relate to my employees. The bottom line was always about the profit. I hate to say it, but my first few times being a front of the house manager and friends to all the staff up front failed. It wasn't until I was hired into that position that I earned the respect of the position and could be the disciplinarian I grew to be.
Moral of the story, respect and friendship are two different things. He might be a good motivator and an even better friend to his team, but it takes earning the respect of your employees and that is done by experience and discipline. Maybe a new scenery and experience will make Garrett a better coach. Jerry was the one to give him that chance, but like me and several others that had to lead, it took a few destinations and experiences to finally excel. Not gonna say he is the worst coach or even a bad coach, just saying he is a young coach that has yet to find his way. I think it will take another destination or a few to really see what Garrett is made of. Sadly we have seen the best he has to offer with Dallas unless he started from scratch. I agree with many when we say it is time to move on.
