The Most Damning Article Ever Written on Jerry (Bob Sturm)

[TequilaCowboy]

This has been brought up constantly over the years here on this forum.. Bob must be finally reading the threads on this.

I have mentioned that probably the last decade or so Jerry has past the point of no return. He can’t hire a competent GM because if they are successful rapidly, it will only reinforce the stupidity on his part. He hates now that he’s painted himself into a corner.

 

[Floatyworm]

#5. He’s the only part time GM in the league.
Every other GM in the NFL dedicates 100% of his time being the GM. If I had to guess, JJ at best is 50%

Has a GM ever had a talk show while doing GM duties?

 

[Kingofholland]

I don't think there's much ground breaking in that article. We all know Jerry meddles nothing new.

It would be nice if he stepped away from day to day visibility and let the coaches do their job at minimum. In regards to coaching hiring I don't think he necessarily requires a coach be hired but definitely plants ideas. McCarthy hired most of his staff when he was brought in sans Kellen Moore, which I'm sure Jerry had a glowing recommendation for.

Regardless he needs to let coaches be coaches and inserting himself into game day, play time, health reports, etc.

 

[FanofJerry]

I don't think there's much ground breaking in that article. We all know Jerry meddles nothing new.

It would be nice if he stepped away from day to day visibility and let the coaches do their job at minimum. In regards to coaching hiring I don't think he necessarily requires a coach be hired but definitely plants ideas. McCarthy hired most of his staff when he was brought in sans Kellen Moore, which I'm sure Jerry had a glowing recommendation for.

Regardless he needs to let coaches be coaches and inserting himself into game day, play time, health reports, etc.

I think that is the issue at hand.

Jerry might be a control freak, and if he is, they get off on asserting their dominance.

Generally speaking, I dont think you can just..."Make him stop" when the things he is getting off on are not criminal or against League Rules.

 

[ArtClink]

I don't believe the SB win in 1995 proved anything. That was Jimmy's team. The team went downhill after Jimmy left. Even that 1995 team was the worst of their good teams. They were lucky the Packers knocked off the 49ers.

This. only a fool believes Jerry had anything to do with building a dynasty. Jerry signed checks and had no say in football matters.

 

[HotDog37]

But it doesn't take an insider to see this. If anyone has been following this franchise for the last 3 decades then it was clear as day. I NEVER understood how some fans treated Jerry like a celebrity. His legacy will forever be destroying the Dallas Cowboys and the sad thing is his ego believes he is the Dallas Cowboys. He's now a senile angry old man so buckle up.

I agree - the silly outbursts. Threats to fire people. Landing the chopper on the practice field. Severe disinformation tactics *attempts*. Playing up Ezekiel Elliot as if it's still 2016 and not washed up so bad that he could not start for Highland Park High School. The notepad scribble. Waiting to the very end to sign a quarterback to the highest NFL contract - ever that has clearly lost some skills - the limited skills he came with. Refusing to address the running back position in any way other than picking up washed has beens. The biggest head scratcher of all? Not giving Derek Henry so much as a phone call and later saying "He didn't fit what we have". LOL. The list goes on and the Lex Luther personality is now about to be on full display.

 

[BHendri5]

Local Dallas radio host Bob Sturm of The Ticket radio has just written a masterpiece of clarity for us fans. I encourage everyone to read it as it is the best summary of what Jerry has done to our franchise.

https://bobsturm.substack.com/p/founders-choice-the-airing-of-grievances

Some Highlights:

1. He is the ultimate “Dress-Up General Manager” - "He has insisted on playing dress-up and claiming the most important role in any organization – the General Manager – without ever actually fulfilling the role by doing its duties, and more bothersome, never once wavering by giving the role up.
   
   "But the notion that he could take over as owner of the Cowboys and also take over as the GM and replace Tex Schramm was a bad plan in 1989 and a worse plan every year since Jimmy Johnson left (Johnson had, in his contract, full control of personnel moves for his tenure, but of course, no head coach has had that since).
   
   To claim the title suggests that you cannot find anyone more qualified than yourself. Again, he isn’t the first man to suffer from extreme hubris because his bank account allowed it, but at what point of a football team failing would a man seek help?"
   
   
2. Even after 35 years, we still don’t know his personal philosophy on football - "If you talk to anyone who has worked or does work in that organization for any period of time, they would tell you that Jerry has no personal, authentic takes on how the game should be played. Rather he is a product of crowd-sourcing thoughts from current events and the last person who has been in his ear. This is not what good leaders do, of course, because it results in spinning in circles over the long-term.
   
   Instead, the Cowboys have reversed fields countless times since Jerry has been running things. This tells you that there might not be any real core beliefs that are non-negotiable about how the game should be played or how a team should be built or even what sort of players you want in your building. They chase butterflies of past mistakes, current trends, or the belief that they can somehow recreate the 1990s Cowboys dynasty in the 2020s where the game is barely recognizable between those two eras."
   
   
3. He has not let a head coach truly be the actual head coach in decades - "Jerry has never respected the office of head coach enough to allow them to run their program. Because along the way, he has never allowed them to do something as basic as “name their own staff.” Regardless of who it has been and even if that head coach has already demonstrated he can win a Super Bowl, Jerry has constantly pushed coordinators on his new head coaches that the new man had never worked with in any capacity. He gave Mike Zimmer to Parcells. He hired Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator before he even hired Wade Phillips. He suggested strongly that Kellen Moore was on Mike McCarthy’s first staff. He gave Barry Switzer and Chan Gailey full staffs that were already here and employed with the last coach that was fired.
   
   So, when players circumvent the coach to take up an issue with the owner, in most places that would get the player in hot water with the organization. Here, it simply cements the fact that Jones has been this team’s actual head coach in these matters since before these players were born. He welcomes them in and hears their issues. It sends the message that the coach is not powerful. Again."
   
   
4. He wanted to be right more than he wanted to win - "In many ways, it is no longer about just winning a title. It is about winning a title in precisely the way that people have long said he cannot. He needs to show people that he has been correct all along and that is why nothing ever changes besides the names and the faces of those who serve him.
   
   It all feels like one large plot-line narrative to demonstrate that everyone else was wrong and that eventually he could do this very thing in the way that he saw fit – gathering all of the money and attention – and still win that one last trophy.
   
   He wants to be right much more than he wants to win. Which is why I doubt he will ever be able to do either."
   
   This is the best summary of what Jerry has done to our franchise, not from a forum poster but from an industry insider who has covered the Cowboys for more than a quarter of a century. This is exactly who Jerry is and it's high time ALL Cowboys fans saw him as he really is.

Blah Blah Blah, there's a lot of stuff that Sturm conveniently left out, because it would not fit his narrative and is contrary to what he wants everyone to believe. He wants to and he has you believing his dribble

 

[plasticman]

A compilation that many of us have been saying for years in a very eloquent style.

He hit on every major point of contention:

Jimmy Johnson had full control of the successful team in the early 90's.

Jerry Jones has no plan. He just tries to imitate the cool GM's.

Jerry Jones had no credentials for the position. He has not performed the duties of the position.

He almost immediately destroys the authority of a HC. He has practically been the HC in many cases.

For Jerry, being right is more important than winning.

Excellent article.

 

[DandyDon52]

Seems like the noise is actually starting to reach the public. I truly think the Green Bay debacle truly broke a lot of folks (including myself). I have to say I’m surprised that people are finally saying what a lot of us have been saying for years on this board.

Jerry isnt reading his own tea leaves.
The GB game was # 1
2. didnt fire mike and get a new HC
3. the all in comment
4.does 0 in FA again lol
5.only offers 1 year deals to everyone !
6.signs dak at last minute, which by that time most didnt want another 4 years of dak
7.More with less lol
8.forgot but passing on Henry
9.starts off 3-3
10.threatens radio hosts, then next week refuses to apologize.

All this combined has turned media and many fans against him and the cowboys, he still doesnt see that this time it is different,
and he is doing his same koolaid routines, but they wont work this time.

 

[DandyDon52]

Booger can write? Or does he just scribble hillbilly nonsense?

 

[Jarv]

I agree - the silly outbursts. Threats to fire people. Landing the chopper on the practice field. Severe disinformation tactics *attempts*. Playing up Ezekiel Elliot as if it's still 2016 and not washed up so bad that he could not start for Highland Park High School. The notepad scribble. Waiting to the very end to sign a quarterback to the highest NFL contract - ever that has clearly lost some skills - the limited skills he came with. Refusing to address the running back position in any way other than picking up washed has beens. The biggest head scratcher of all? Not giving Derek Henry so much as a phone call and later saying "He didn't fit what we have". LOL. The list goes on and the Lex Luther personality is now about to be on full display.

Yeah and that is just THIS year!

 

[ClintDagger]

This. only a fool believes Jerry had anything to do with building a dynasty. Jerry signed checks and had no say in football matters.

In fairness to Jerry, he was instrumental in two things that ensured the dynasty. First, he vetoed Jimmy trading Irvin to the Raiders. And second, he forced the trade of Walsh to NO so that Jimmy would stop trying to usurp Aikman. That trade also yielded some great picks that turned into key pieces.

Jimmy was incredible but he wasn’t perfect and Jerry did a good job of reining him in when Jimmy was getting too cute. And not to mention Jerry had the stones to fire Landry and bring in Jimmy in the first place. Jerry eventually went nuts but I think it’s unfair to give him zero credit for the dynasty.

 

[fivetwos]

I didn’t find any article saying this, but I’m pretty sure a coach of Parcells’ caliber had final say on his staff. He kept Zimmer and then the following year they wanted to keep him as well because he could’ve accepted an offer from Nebraska.

Sorry for the delayed response. World Series sort of got in the way lol.

Parcells’ good friend at the time was a prominent NY radio guy. I listened daily and recall exactly where I was when I was hearing this and most of the details that aren’t relevant.

He was explaining some things about how BP ended up in Dallas…how he had just gone through a divorce and got hit pretty hard, and was looking for an opportunity. We of course know Jerrys motivations from the drunken video, but that’s a different story.

Anyhow, Jerry asked ‘can you keep this DC, I like him and just signed him, etc’ Parcells met with Zimmer and didn’t dislike him, so he complied.

We know the results. BP basically willed a not great Quincy Carter-led team to the playoffs, but it didnt work so well in year two. He finally put his foot down in year three and switched to the 34…..although Zimmer was still retained since Jerry wasn’t even about to eat the final year.

Parcells was literally one of the innovators of the 34…if not THEE innovator…but Jerry had to have one of “his guys” per usual….and would not eat a coaching contract, so it was a square peg for two years.

By the time BP could get the defense right, the relationship had run its course, BPs contract was up and Jerry basically said ‘I’ll take it from here….’

We know those results as well.

I do not have similar knowledge, but I suspect the same thing happened with McCarthy and Moore. MM needed/wanted a pay day, was an offensive guy who called his own plays….yet claimed to have wanted to keep Moore at the time he was hired. BS. Three years in they suddenly “have different philosophies.” That’s not what it was…it was Jerry’s fingerprints all over things. It hasn’t worked and never will.

 

[Rayman70]

Bob will never be heard from again. Its more damning for Bob Sturm than Jerry. Because why did it take Bob so many decades to write what we all already knew as fans? SEE, the problem is, the media KNEW and did/said nothing all along. Only when the wheels appear to be coming off the Jerry train did they speak up. This article isn't anything new. Bob Sturm was a Jerry enabler like so many other media folks, yet NOW he decides to emerge with truth lol...I mean, great, BUT he is a bit late to the show. Afterall, he said nothing til now. He is also part of the problem. This is why no one trusts media. Bobs ready to "retire" by hook or crook. Thats why he came out with this. Jerrys team of Lawyers likely already "paid" him a visit. If you know what I mean.

 

[Rayman70]

In fairness to Jerry, he was instrumental in two things that ensured the dynasty. First, he vetoed Jimmy trading Irvin to the Raiders. And second, he forced the trade of Walsh to NO so that Jimmy would stop trying to usurp Aikman. That trade also yielded some great picks that turned into key pieces.

Jimmy was incredible but he wasn’t perfect and Jerry did a good job of reining him in when Jimmy was getting too cute. And not to mention Jerry had the stones to fire Landry and bring in Jimmy in the first place. Jerry eventually went nuts but I think it’s unfair to give him zero credit for the dynasty.

fair enough. Very true. But where is that guy these days? He looks like a toothless tiger.

 

[Manster_Mash]

Absolutely perfect analysis. Sturm should be given a Pulitzer for this.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Local Dallas radio host Bob Sturm of The Ticket radio has just written a masterpiece of clarity for us fans. I encourage everyone to read it as it is the best summary of what Jerry has done to our franchise.

https://bobsturm.substack.com/p/founders-choice-the-airing-of-grievances

Some Highlights:

1. He is the ultimate “Dress-Up General Manager” - "He has insisted on playing dress-up and claiming the most important role in any organization – the General Manager – without ever actually fulfilling the role by doing its duties, and more bothersome, never once wavering by giving the role up.
   
   "But the notion that he could take over as owner of the Cowboys and also take over as the GM and replace Tex Schramm was a bad plan in 1989 and a worse plan every year since Jimmy Johnson left (Johnson had, in his contract, full control of personnel moves for his tenure, but of course, no head coach has had that since).
   
   To claim the title suggests that you cannot find anyone more qualified than yourself. Again, he isn’t the first man to suffer from extreme hubris because his bank account allowed it, but at what point of a football team failing would a man seek help?"
   
   
2. Even after 35 years, we still don’t know his personal philosophy on football - "If you talk to anyone who has worked or does work in that organization for any period of time, they would tell you that Jerry has no personal, authentic takes on how the game should be played. Rather he is a product of crowd-sourcing thoughts from current events and the last person who has been in his ear. This is not what good leaders do, of course, because it results in spinning in circles over the long-term.
   
   Instead, the Cowboys have reversed fields countless times since Jerry has been running things. This tells you that there might not be any real core beliefs that are non-negotiable about how the game should be played or how a team should be built or even what sort of players you want in your building. They chase butterflies of past mistakes, current trends, or the belief that they can somehow recreate the 1990s Cowboys dynasty in the 2020s where the game is barely recognizable between those two eras."
   
   
3. He has not let a head coach truly be the actual head coach in decades - "Jerry has never respected the office of head coach enough to allow them to run their program. Because along the way, he has never allowed them to do something as basic as “name their own staff.” Regardless of who it has been and even if that head coach has already demonstrated he can win a Super Bowl, Jerry has constantly pushed coordinators on his new head coaches that the new man had never worked with in any capacity. He gave Mike Zimmer to Parcells. He hired Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator before he even hired Wade Phillips. He suggested strongly that Kellen Moore was on Mike McCarthy’s first staff. He gave Barry Switzer and Chan Gailey full staffs that were already here and employed with the last coach that was fired.
   
   So, when players circumvent the coach to take up an issue with the owner, in most places that would get the player in hot water with the organization. Here, it simply cements the fact that Jones has been this team’s actual head coach in these matters since before these players were born. He welcomes them in and hears their issues. It sends the message that the coach is not powerful. Again."
   
   
4. He wanted to be right more than he wanted to win - "In many ways, it is no longer about just winning a title. It is about winning a title in precisely the way that people have long said he cannot. He needs to show people that he has been correct all along and that is why nothing ever changes besides the names and the faces of those who serve him.
   
   It all feels like one large plot-line narrative to demonstrate that everyone else was wrong and that eventually he could do this very thing in the way that he saw fit – gathering all of the money and attention – and still win that one last trophy.
   
   He wants to be right much more than he wants to win. Which is why I doubt he will ever be able to do either."
   
   This is the best summary of what Jerry has done to our franchise, not from a forum poster but from an industry insider who has covered the Cowboys for more than a quarter of a century. This is exactly who Jerry is and it's high time ALL Cowboys fans saw him as he really is.

every single one of those items is true. and it leads to one thing and one thing only. Jerry cares about the business side way more than the football side. even this past week he said it, that Cowboys in a bye week were in the news. top of the news and he made sure with his comments and tripling down on what he said, for the cowboys to stay in the news....and that means cha ching!!!

 

[Rayman70]

lmao

Absolutely perfect analysis. Sturm should be given a Pulitzer for this.

..for stating the obvious and what we already knew? You must be kidding. YES, it was spot on.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I read the excerpts and every single one of them hit home...then I spent the time and read the full article. couple of times and its even better. been saying it for years, the Marketing Man, over rules the GM everytime and unfortunately as it says in the article, its the same man..

even if he somehow wins the lottery and wins, or gets to NCCG....still 30 years to get there and lots of futility along the way. and as he gets older, he feels more desparate to prove himself, now, at 82 hearing criticism directly on the air and being challenged...he is going to become more desparate, more irrational and make stupider moves..... this is going to get even worse, because now we are dealing with an egotistical 82 year old man, out to prove the world wrong with time running out......it has never worked in the past. it won't work now....

 

[Manster_Mash]

lmao

..for stating the obvious and what we already knew? You must be kidding. YES, it was spot on.

Perhaps it's obvious to a lot of us fans, but it hasn't been published to the masses like this, and certainly not with this specific detail and analysis.