The mind has a huge capacity to excuse and deceive itself. This is why strong accountability measures need to be in place in any culture, or it can turn dysfunctional. I just recently watched the documentary 'Happy Valley', which detailed the Sandusky fiasco at Penn State. After being caught molesting a child right there in the Nittany Lions showers, Sandusky was not reported to the police. An incredibly bad decision was made to handle this 'in house', and key people involved swept it under the rug....and Sandusky went on to molest several more young boys.
1 figure grew so big, when a decision was made to look the other way, nobody could really countermand it.
Now, that case is an extreme example. The case in Dallas was incredibly benign in comparison. But at it's heart you had a coach who THOUGHT he was still in command of the NFL game when in fact, as you point out, he's not putting in the 'football hours' any more to scout players, prepare game plans, study film, etc. He was in fact deceiving himself thinking he was ready for the season when he'd spent far more time doing public speaking than attending to his coaching duties. Landry had essentially started working at a second job that over the years began to eat more and more into the time that he previously had devoted to coaching.
But in that culture at Valley Ranch, who was gonna take Landry by the elbow and pull him aside and tell him this? As you mention, Schramm tried to 'point' Landry in the right direction several times, but he could not force Landry to recommit himself to coaching full time.
A situation developed in which Landry is actually surrounded by people who are helping him to deceive himself. He keeps calling for a guy to go into the game that was cut two years ago. They cover for him. He sends in a goalline play when the team is at midfield, they pretend not to notice. He calls a 2 years starter by the wrong name, nobody corrects him.
The amazing thing is that Schramm was able to cover for him and keep it going for as long as it lasted.
