FWST Blog: Dan Reeves Speaks

[WoodysGirl]

Dan Reeves picked up his phone and had this to say about the job that he had in the Cowboys, and then left in 48 hours.


Star-Telegram: How do you go from having a job and an office to leaving in 48 hours?

Dan Reeves: I’m certainly disappointed. It’s a situation where I thought it was done. Then there, all of a sudden, there was some language Jerry thought was important that I couldn’t live with. It’s unfortunate. So much of it Jerry had conceded on a lot of things, this one he felt like was important. I felt like it was important to me. We felt like if we couldn’t both feel really good about this deal that we shouldn’t move forward.

Basically that’s what it boiled down to.


Star-Telegram: What was the sticking point between you and Jerry Jones:

Dan Reeves: I really don't want to get into that.


Star-Telegram: Was it a matter of authority?

Dan Reeves: No. It wasn’t authority. It was perfectly clear I was going to answer to Wade and Jerry. I don’t want to get into the details. It was something he felt was important and I felt it was important to me. It had nothing to do with authority.


Star-Telegram: A perception exists that you didn’t want the 24/7 NFL workload; were you OK with that part of it?

Dan Reeves: I’ve worked full-time, and I’ve been involved in this business for a long time. I was willing to do whatever it took to get this thing to where he wanted it to be.


Star-Telegram: You had made some comments regarding the distraction element that exists with the Cowboys and by name you said Pacman Jones and Terrell Owens; did you have those types of conversations about the distractions that exists with the Cowboys?

Dan Reeves: I wasn’t there long enough to have those types of conversations. I think the Cowboys realize they have some distractions that keep them from being a team. Until they get a team to where everybody is on the same page it’s going to be a problem. I wasn’t there long enough to get into that.


Star-Telegram: You’ve been in the league forever, you had moved into an office and two days later you were out. Ever been in anything like that?

Dan Reeves: No. It’s very disappointing. I know it is for Jerry, too. He tried very hard. We both felt like if we both can’t feel comfortable we need to leave now while we’re still friends and move forward.


Star-Telegram: With Wade being more involved in the defense he’s going to be spend more time in those meetings, which could give you time to spend with Jason Garrett and the offense; would you have been a liaison in that sense?

Dan Reeves: If Wade asked me to come and see if I could help them and he’s going to spend more time on defense and I could help on offense I would have. I’ve been very impressed with Jason Garrett and their entire offensive staff. Or as much as I could in two and a half days. I know it would have worked and been a good deal.


Star-Telegram: Can you see yourself working in the NFL as a coach again?

Dan Reeves: I’d like to. But that’s the reason I went to San Francisco and the reason I went to Dallas. I had a great opportunity in San Francisco and I felt like Dallas was a better one. I would have been working in football and in other areas, too. I felt like that was something I could do. That’s what I’ve been involved in for 23 years as a coach. It was a chance to get back with the organization, I don’t think you ever get that star out of your blood. I was there for 16 years being involved with it. I was excited about. After meeting with Jerry for a few hours on Sunday and I felt it was going to work out. We had an agreement. We just couldn’t come to an agreement.

I wanted to be a guy who helped get that thing turned around, but it’s not going to happen.



- Mac Engel


Posted at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

 

[cowboyschmps3]

i guess it was that jerry wants to keep T.O. and reeves had said they needed to get rid of him....T.O. is staying so anybody who goes and wants T.O. out they are going to be sent home packing....

 

[Hostile]

Dan, you've had 23 years of Head Coaching experience and 16 years before that in Dallas as a player, a player/coach, and an Assistant Coach. You know what the saddest thing of all that is? Your positive comments about Jason Garrett and the entire Offensive Staff will be ignored completely by people who know more than you do despite your experience.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

i guess it was that jerry wants to keep T.O. and reeves had said they needed to get rid of him....T.O. is staying so anybody who goes and wants T.O. out they are going to be sent home packing....

Where did you get that from that article and his answer?

He specifically said they had not gotten to any conversations about TO yet.

 

[Shake_Tiller]

Reeves is a classy guy, a tough guy. The Cowboys would have benefited from his presence, I think.

I don't see how anyone can construe, from the things he has said a) anything negative about Garrett or b) anything pointing to Owens being a reason the deal fell apart.

 

[khiladi]

Dan, you've had 23 years of Head Coaching experience and 16 years before that in Dallas as a player, a player/coach, and an Assistant Coach. You know what the saddest thing of all that is? Your positive comments about Jason Garrett and the entire Offensive Staff will be ignored completely by people who know more than you do despite your experience.

What about Reeves back-tracking on his comments on Owens? Will that be ignored to...

What did you expect Reeves to say? Jason Garrett sucks. and I've been brought in to baby-sit him..

The funny thing is, this pretty much confirms that Reeves was brought in to work with Garrett, because he wasn't doing his job.

 

[TheCount]

Dan, you've had 23 years of Head Coaching experience and 16 years before that in Dallas as a player, a player/coach, and an Assistant Coach. You know what the saddest thing of all that is? Your positive comments about Jason Garrett and the entire Offensive Staff will be ignored completely by people who know more than you do despite your experience.

"As impressed as I could be in two days", that's a glowing endorsement?

 

[theogt]

What about Reeves back-tracking on his comments on Owens? Will that be ignored to...

What did you expect Reeves to say? Jason Garrett sucks. and I've been brought in to baby-sit him..

The funny thing is, this pretty much confirms that Reeves was brought in to work with Garrett, because he wasn't doing his job.

Yup...

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I don't know if Reeves was brought here specifically for Jason, quite possible he was, but it is very telling that when he wasn't here he had all kinds of things to say about how Owens was a distraction and how he wasn't good for the team, but then he gets here and "We hadn't discussed that yet and I really needed more information before I could intelligently comment on him".

That's back tracking at it's finest and I'm sure, even if he was brought here to babysit Garrett, that he wasn't going to leave the situation and today slam Garrett and throw him under a bus.

That's not me saying I think Garrett needed a babysitter, I don't know that at all, but him being nice and saying all the right things doesn't exactly mean much at this point either.

 

[cobra]

Well, I just post this in the DMN thread, and after reading this one, I'm even more convinced that it is the best guess:

The 'one thing'?

Here is my guess based on the tea leaves.

It appears that Dan Reeves could not agree about a coaching responsibility that was put into the contract. Dan just wanted to be in an executive role.

Of course, there are only two coaching roles which Dan Reeves would fill, and they are both occupied: HC and OC.

So, my guess is that the "coaching responsibility" was an agreement to assume a coaching role if the current occupant is fired. Jerry wanted Dan to agree to do it; Dan did not.

The next question is which role? I'm not sure being interim OC would be something that Dan would have that big of a problem with if JG left.

But I think Dan has a degree of loyalty and closeness to Wade.

Therefore, my guess as to the "one thing" Jerry wanted in the contract that Dan would not agree to is that Dan would agree to take the head coaching job if Wade is fired. Dan would not agree to that because he does not want to a HC job and because he does not want Wade to think he came in and made it easier for Jerry to fire Wade.

That's my guess.

 

[theogt]

Well, I just post this in the DMN thread, and after reading this one, I'm even more convinced that it is the best guess:

So Jerry wanted the guy to be the next HC so bad that it forced him to leave?

Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Star-Telegram: A perception exists that you didn’t want the 24/7 NFL workload; were you OK with that part of it?

Dan Reeves: I’ve worked full-time, and I’ve been involved in this business for a long time. I was willing to do whatever it took to get this thing to where he wanted it to be.

Dan Reeves: If Wade asked me to come and see if I could help them and he’s going to spend more time on defense and I could help on offense I would have. I’ve been very impressed with Jason Garrett and their entire offensive staff. Or as much as I could in two and a half days. I know it would have worked and been a good deal.

It was a chance to get back with the organization, I don’t think you ever get that star out of your blood. I was there for 16 years being involved with it. I was excited about. After meeting with Jerry for a few hours on Sunday and I felt it was going to work out. We had an agreement. We just couldn’t come to an agreement.

I wanted to be a guy who helped get that thing turned around, but it’s not going to happen.

:cry2:

 

[utrunner07]

You know what the saddest thing of all that is? Your positive comments about Jason Garrett and the entire Offensive Staff will be ignored completely by people who know more than you do despite your experience.

What you expected the guy to come out and just trash Garrett and the staff? Really? Reeves is a classy guy he is not going to do that even if he thought there were issues with Garret, which there are.

 

[Stash]

Dan, you've had 23 years of Head Coaching experience and 16 years before that in Dallas as a player, a player/coach, and an Assistant Coach. You know what the saddest thing of all that is? Your positive comments about Jason Garrett and the entire Offensive Staff will be ignored completely by people who know more than you do despite your experience.

I don't know anything else I would expect the man to say.

But it seems obvious that Reeves was coming in to 'help' Garrett on the offensive side of the ball.

Probably in the way that Sparano 'helped' him in '07.

I've read plenty of complimentary quotes regarding Jason Garrett.

Many from the teams that declined to hire him.

Doesn't mean he struggled any less than he actually did.

 

[Hostile]

"As impressed as I could be in two days", that's a glowing endorsement?

"I know it would have worked and been a good deal."

That's ripping him for no talent or potential? In what bizarro world?

 

[Hostile]

I don't know anything else I would expect the man to say.

But it seems obvious that Reeves was coming in to 'help' Garrett on the offensive side of the ball.

Probably in the way that Sparano 'helped' him in '07.

I've read plenty of complimentary quotes regarding Jason Garrett.

Many from the teams that declined to hire him.

Doesn't mean he struggled any less than he actually did.

All coaches struggle and have off years. Every single one of them right up the ladder to Landry and Lombardi. One day fans will realize this. But I won't be holding my breath in the meantime.

 

[Alexander]

"I know it would have worked and been a good deal."

That's ripping him for no talent or potential? In what bizarro world?

He bothered to note he was impressed with him instead of saying "I don't want to get into that" as he did about something else uncomfortable.

Yet for some reason, people are reading into it desperately trying to find some sliver of cynicism from his comments.

So what would motivate him to speak highly of Garrett and the offensive staff? Seriously, I think that question has to be answered.

 

[theogt]

He bothered to note he was impressed with him instead of saying "I don't want to get into that" as he did about something else uncomfortable.

Yet for some reason, people are reading into it desperately trying to find some sliver of cynicism from his comments.

So what would motivate him to speak highly of Garrett and the offensive staff? Seriously, I think that question has to be answered.

Yeah, because he didn't want to go into details about his contract negotiations must mean his comments about Garrett were more than just being nice. LOL, nice logic.

Notice he said he thought he could turn the offense around. Well, that must mean it's not going in the right direction right now -- and who would we blame for that at the coaching level?

 

[TheCount]

"I know it would have worked and been a good deal."

That's ripping him for no talent or potential? In what bizarro world?

Who said he ripped him? He didn't say anything bad about anyone because he's a professional but singling him out as praising Garrett and saying that somehow proves Garrett is some kind of superstar doesn't make much sense either.

Garrett may have a good year next year, and we have him, so that could only be good news but I don't understand why anyone would worship him. He hasn't done much in this league to earn all the praise some people give him.

At least let the guy earn his stripes, too many people on this team and in this organization get applauded before they earn it as it is.

I'm not a big Wade fan but he did earn some respect for what he did with that defense when he took it over, let Garrett do the same with the offense next year before we start promoting him to head coach around here. How he responds to this adversity should be what defines him, not what a guy that fled the building after two days said or did not say.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Just to clarify at least my own feelings on Garrett...

It's not that he's absolutely incompetent. Most people acknowledge that he's a smart, polished guy who presents himself well.

It's that he's been so prematurely annointed. He's like the raw college player who has tons of athletic ability and potential through the roof, but isn't a finished product yet. Or the combine workout warrior that isn't a great football player because he doesn't have enough experience and hasn't truly learned his craft yet.

And I for one am afraid that he's so self-assured and so self-confident that he won't realize and won't accept that he needs help. Why? Because he's always been the smartest guy in the room and always been told how brilliant he is. Just like the super-talented young players who think they can get by on athletic ability alone and don't really have to pay attention to the coaches harping on how they can improve.

That's why some of us wanted Reeves here: Because even the most talented young players need coaching, or they'll be just another case of untapped potential.