Founders' Choice: The Airing of Grievances

Jerry Jones has owned the Cowboys for over 35 years and his list of wrong turns is too long to detail. But, allow me to give my thoughts on his reign.

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Founders Choice is a series of columns inspired by our Founding Subscribers. As part of their support to Sturmstack, our founders are encouraged to suggest topics for the rare occasions when there is time for me to leave current events for a few hours. For links to all of our other Founders Choice columns, click here. Today’s is from founding subscriber Chris who asked me to write an answer to the question, “what makes me craziest about the tenure of Jerry Jones?”

It must be Festivus around here today. Because Festivus, as any Frank Costanza fan knows, begins with the Airing of Grievances. That, of course, as Frank would tell us, is to list all the ways that your family has disappointed you over the last year.

Or, as Chris has asked, I might list the most significant ways that Jerry Jones has disappointed me (and all of us) in the way he has run his franchise in the 27 seasons I have covered him.

Now, before I begin, I want everyone to know that I admit this is wildly unfair. We know this. To be fair, I would certainly also need to list all the good things Jerry has done over the years (and I am willing to concede there are many) and as so many of you business owners remind me, he is clearly a hero to nearly every entrepreneur who dreams of being a multi-billionaire someday. He has made more money than we could ever count and has acquired more fame than 99.9% of any other human being that has ever lived. He is proudly in the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the fact that he never played a single snap in the pros. His teams have been crowned NFL Champions three different times and his franchise is worth more money than any other franchise. Not just in the NFL, mind you, but any sports franchise in any country on the entire planet. He will be remembered as long as football is remembered and must be included in any history of this sport we love.

And yet, so much of the above feels like empty calories to those of us that believe the point of sports is to win and to conquer. It is not to get richer, but to do something better than anyone else. In this case, the goal of the Dallas Cowboys football franchise should be to win the most Super Bowls and to destroy anyone in their path to sit atop the world of professional football. The goal is to be the very best and that is determined on a scoreboard, not by bank account. At least that is what we thought until we met Jerry Jones.

So, in this bye week – one in which he threatened three radio guys who dared question his decisions, and one in which his football team suffered the worst home loss of his entire tenure – I think we have time to list the biggest disappointments.

This is my Jerry Jones Edition of the Airing of Grievances.

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.

We are going to start with this big one. When a man buys anything, he has the authority to staff it however he wants. Yes, you can buy a restaurant and name yourself chef. You can buy a race team and hire yourself as its driver. You can probably overpower a nation and install yourself as king. Powerful men have delusions of grandeur every generation. 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? Let’s ask the man who hired himself as the chef of an empty or failing restaurant.

If Jerry ever did the job of a General Manager – ran a scouting department, evaluated players personally, oversaw the league’s personnel so he could pounce on opportunities, built a football department while monitoring a coaching staff so things were seamless as an organization, hit the road to scout college players, and wrote up his own evaluations of potential picks, and on and on – we would have to respect the hours and years he has put into his craft.

But the trouble has always been this: he doesn’t hit the road. He doesn’t evaluate players. I am not sure he ever even watches the All-22 of Cowboys games. He certainly could not tell you all the starters’ names on the Lions’ defense or the top five tight ends in college football for the 2025 draft without being prepped the question was coming. Every other GM in the sport could, by the way, without any prep time.

And most importantly, his butt has never been on the line as a GM of a team that has the 10,000 day burden. This is one of the most volatile positions in the NFL. GMs get fired every single year. But, Dallas has the longest-tenured GM of them all. He cannot lose his job when he is his own superior, despite the fact that he has never really ever tried to do the full job.

But, Bob, if he doesn’t really have the job, then why do you care? Because, if he was just taking the title, then why not hire someone you will trust and get out of the way. You believe Will McClay and Stephen Jones have that autonomous power to make a move and Jerry sits it out? Do you think Will McClay decided to re-sign Dak Prescott or he decided to trade Amari Cooper for peanuts? I am not sure we have ever heard that he was included in the process at all with anything beyond the draft.

I promise, every move of significance requires his blessing and many moves are made without anyone else involved. He even said he did the Trey Lance deal without telling anyone. He was definitely behind the Ezekiel Elliott reunion. The list goes on and on. But, you can’t call him a meddling owner, because he is the GM. Well which is it? Is he the GM or is he not? This is the frustrating posture where he is when it serves him, but again, if he had to name one Eagles linebacker this morning without being prepped, I submit he would have no chance whatsoever. Many of our readers could rattle off a couple without even trying.

If the man ever truly wanted to be the GM by performing the full duties, we would respect it. But, we all know he watches no film, writes no reports, and after 35 years still has very little deep knowledge of the league’s personnel. There is probably one GM in this sport that has ever left the Senior Bowl to attend the Winter X Games. There is also probably only one GM in this sport that cannot tell you the best 3-5 practice squad players to poach in the league right now. Heck, he may not know 5 names on his very own practice squad.

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.

Almost every successful “football man” has a view of this sport and while it might be slightly adjusted, it is never substantially changed. Pretty much everyone with long-standing success and staying power like Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh, Ron Wolf, Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, even someone like Andy Reid or Kyle Shanahan have views on this sport that they then continue to push for their entire eras.

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.

For a while, he believed what Jimmy told him to believe. Then it was Larry Lacewell in his ear. Once it was Norv Turner that seemed to be quite trusted. Then, he was calling Butch Davis for draft information. Then Bill Parcells and on to Jeff Ireland. Then he was asking Troy Aikman or Tony Romo who he should draft (and even listening to them, which is something most every GM would not even consider). Maybe it would be signing free agents and discounting your own draft picks until it shifted to an organization that never signed free agents and only valued draft picks. Sometimes the Cowboys wanted model citizens, but other times, they saw a market inefficiency for guys who were of questionable character. And back and forth and to and fro.

What is the Cowboys philosophy? What is the Jerry Jones way? Nobody knows, because he doesn’t know. Whoever talked to him last is most likely the opinion he will trust until that trust is lost and he moves on to the next crowd-sourced belief.

3. He has not let a head coach truly be the actual head coach in decades

I assume we have to go back to Bill Parcells, but when you consider that Parcells left because Jerry decided to push Terrell Owens on a coach who wanted nothing to do with him, we probably have to go all the way back to Jimmy.

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.

What this does – as if any explanation is needed – is it undermines the authority of a head coach. The job requires loyalty in almost militaristic quantities that you will do anything to serve your master. Jerry funnels that to himself rather than the coach who will have his rear-end barbecued when things go poorly. We saw how poorly this went with Switzer and how it created friction immediately. A head coach needs full buy-in from his staff that they will have his back and won’t tell the media negative things about him and his program. Instead, the assistants in Dallas have always known the real authority is Jerry and therefore are habitually half-in and half-out on their head coach.

Why?

Because, they know how their proverbial bread is buttered and who is their actual master. You cannot serve two masters, so they make the easy pick. You watch, when McCarthy is fired, many of these assistants will be given to the next coach and we will continue down this path forever.

And while we are on this topic, we should cover that he is the only GM and/or owner to do something so brazen as to take his spot just outside the front door of the locker-room after each game to hold his own press briefing.

This is a massive violation of authority as most organizations have one messenger to the press and public in post-game and that is the head coach – otherwise known as the highest ranking official in the organization on game days. Instead, here, we normalize the idea that this man in his suite has more important things to say than the actual head coach, including the job security of that coach. The clicks on Jerry’s presser often outdo the audience the head coach warrants. Why? Because, that is how we do things around here.

There is no reason for Jerry to speak publicly after games. None. But, also, there are a dozen places Jerry could talk if he had to do so. But, at the front door of the locker-room? Well, that is so the players know who they really serve. And with that is the same messaging to the public and the press. The head coach is but another assistant on Jerry’s staff and he knows that and enjoys it. He has to remind us that this is his toy and also let you know that anything that goes wrong is not his fault. If the coach doesn’t get this sorted and “hold his team accountable,” we will get someone in here who can. But, the coach is also never given the ability to get his players to fear him, because that takes spotlight off Jerry. It is a perpetual circle of insanity.

Jerry speaks and attracts the biggest post-game crowd of all - Photo: Pat Doney

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.

Hard to believe that so many of the top coaches would never consider working for him, right?

4. He is much too loyal as a leader

This one is probably nit-picky in normal life. Loyalty is a positive trait just about everywhere but sports. But, in this industry, you have to know when to say goodbye to those friends that you believe have probably played their best football at just the time they are becoming more expensive.

The 49ers walked away from Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott. There have been players the Cowboys have walked away from for sure – DeMarcus Ware and Tyron Smith are recent examples – but, if you can build a bond with Jerry, he will ride that stock price all the way down to zero sometimes.

With that in mind, the inability to fire Jason Garrett and to turn the page from Zeke and Jason Witten as they both end up back on the roster after exits are three recent examples of confusing a personal relationship with a smart and sometimes ruthless football decision. This isn’t helped by taking vacations with those you oversee, and when Tony Romo and Witten appear with the Jones family in pictures from Europe, does that send a message to the rest of the roster that they are being evaluated the same way as their peers? Of course not.

Loyalty is hard to criticize, but there are times where you have to be willing to make the uncomfortable position in pursuit of making your team better. He has continuously seemed to err on the side of friendships. Again, hard to claim this is a massive character flaw, but if you are too often affected by that it changes your cold evaluations of your team, then it is blinding your judgement.

Does loyalty keep QBs in place for too long here? Does it keep coaches in place for too long? If good enough is good enough because they have become friends or business associates, well, this is where a different person from your owner should probably be your GM.

5. He has always confused financial gain with football success

Now, again, I can feel the business owners who read this piece saying that isn’t confusing at all. Profits mean more than anything on any scoreboard, right?

Wrong. In sports, there is one metric that matters to those who fight for every inch. There is one metric that brings these athletes to tears and allows them to break their bodies for our entertainment.

“Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.”

This quote has been attributed to Vince Lombardi, but probably goes back even further than that. We can debate who deserves the credit for the quote, but we all believe it in our bones. The reason we keep score is to find victory.

But, this man has continuously chased something else. He has chased the top of the Forbes list and the ability to claim the profits generated along the way. He has monetized like no man in sports ever has and in that pursuit has absolutely let us know which is more important to him.

I remember the most damning quote to verify this from 2013. Somewhere in our audio archives, we have this, but for now, I will have to use Tim MacMahon’s account from that day when they lost to the Eagles to miss the 2013 playoffs:

Jones didn’t appear to appreciate being asked if he ever felt embarrassed in the wake of the Cowboys missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and losing a win-or-go-home Week 17 game for the third straight year.

“I don’t know,” Jones snapped. "Would you get embarrassed if you were standing in this stadium? Seriously.”

After a moment of awkward silence, another reporter attempted to ask a question before being interrupted by Jones. “The answer is no. Not at all.”

What does the beautiful $1.2 billion stadium have to do with the mediocre results the Cowboys have been getting on the field?

The fact that Jones references the stadium when asked about the football product illustrates one of the major issues of having a marketing man serve as the franchise’s general manager.

Editor’s note: Great news! The above audio exists!

There are many other examples of this truism. Matthew 6:24 tells us you cannot serve two masters if one of them is money. I think Jerry could have saved us from having to look that one up. It is clear that the revenue generation is more important than winning it all.

If the Cowboys would win a Super Bowl but lose their spot as the highest valued franchise in sports and tumble to 18th or so in the NFL in value and revenue, would Jones take that deal?

We know the answer. Winning is not the only thing. In fact, after all these years, we aren’t sure where it ranks. But, with each Jake Paul fight and Arlington Grand Prix, we know that the marketing arm never rests.

Which brings us to the final point, which might just be a combination of all of the other ones merged together:

6. He wanted to be right more than he wanted to win

Everyone takes wrong turns and get things wrong. But, if I were to tell you the number one thing that has stuck out to me in covering this man since I was 26 years old (and I am now 52), it is this. He never, ever, wants to give in and let his critics know that they were right. He never wants to concede that maybe he should have done more in the offseason or maybe he should have signed his QB earlier or maybe he should have hired a GM or maybe he should have had a better plan.

Ego, hubris, pride. They are all different ways of saying the same thing. Double-down and never show that you might be capable of a mistake.

Heck, when someone of great power dies, the obituaries often are worded in such a way that you can hear Frank Sinatra belting out, “For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught. To say the things he truly feels, And not the words of one who kneels, The record shows I took the blows. And did it my way.”

If he ever would have simply reversed course and hired a GM and said, “you know, I tried for 25 years to get this right. I think I proved I cannot, so I am trying another path.” Who would have had an issue with that? If he brought in someone like Troy Aikman to run the football operation and just give him support, would he not get credit if Troy delivered a championship? If the Cowboys were restored as champions of the NFL, would he not be praised as a man who lowered himself to raise his organization?

And the reason we will never know is he would rather lose his way than try another path. He will go to the end of his life, and he will never waver on his core belief that he has been right the whole time. And nobody on this planet will ever be given the satisfaction of knowing he sees any of this as a failure.

Because admitting a wrong turn is more difficult than seeing his team lose. That has been proven for decades. It is much too difficult to remove yourself from power when your entire identity is built on making sure nobody could ever remove you from your power.

It is his team. He could name himself head coach tomorrow, and you cannot stop him. In fact, if you speak too loudly, he might try to get you removed from your post.

That is what I have learned the most from covering his teams all these years. Powerful men lose the plot sometimes, and it often feels mainly built on the premise that they sit on a throne and rule their kingdom without being questioned.

The idea that there will be meaningful change in his lifetime has been lost because the entire purpose is to prove to anyone who ever questioned him that they were wrong by staying the course, digging in, and waiting for the day when it all goes right for him again.

He knows he just has to live long enough for that number to hit again like it did back in 1995. That day he proved to the world that he did not need Jimmy Johnson to hold the trophy.

He did it his way. And that is what fuels any stubbornness to this day. People questioned him for decades and it is now his quest to make sure that he gets up that mountain again, but without giving anyone the satisfaction of suggesting he had to alter his path one inch to appease those critics.

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.