The Dallas Cowboys’ offensive coordinator and former Princeton standout quarterback Jason Garrett ’89 surprised many in the National Football League (NFL) last month when he rejected head coaching offers from both the Atlanta Falcons and the Baltimore Ravens and instead decided to remain an assistant coach with the Cowboys. The move, though, isn’t without perks — Garrett accepted a steep pay raise for his loyalty and now appears to be positioned to replace Dallas’ current head coach, Wade Phillips, when Phillips’ contract expires in 2010.
Garrett’s newly negotiated $3 million salary makes him by far the highest-paid assistant coach in NFL history. Garrett now earns about double that of the league’s next highest-paid assistant coach and more than many of the league’s head coaches. In fact, his seven-figure paycheck is just $100,000 shy of Phillips’. But the move by Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones was necessary to anchor Garrett — widely considered the NFL’s most promising head coaching prospect in years — to Dallas.
Garrett, however, says that personal considerations trumped financial incentives in his decision to remain in the Big D.
“There are so many great things about this [Cowboys’] organization — the management, the people, the atmosphere,” Garrett said. “It’s just a joy to work here. The atmosphere here in Dallas is outstanding, and I don’t have any bad days when I go to work. I love the people I’m doing this for and with.”
Clearly, Garrett feels comfortable with the Cowboys. But his decision to stay with the team that has nurtured his career thus far also makes strategic sense. With only three years’ experience as a coach — Garrett retired from playing in 2004 — the redheaded Princeton graduate probably isn’t quite ready to assume a head coaching job in a league that often offers no second chances. And his two potential suitors — Atlanta and Baltimore — each its their own set of problems for the 42-year-old Garrett.
A position with the Falcons, who offered Garrett $3.5 million a year, would have forced him to contend with the fallout from the Michael Vick dog-fighting fiasco, which refuses to fade from the media spotlight.
Baltimore offered Garrett $3 million a year to coach a Ravens team that won just five games last season and has been on a general downward trajectory since the team’s Super Bowl victory seven years ago.
Dallas, meanwhile, is hot off a 13-3 season — still smarting off their playoff loss to the Super Bowl champion New York Giants — and looks to be a strong contender for the Super Bowl in 2008 and beyond.
Garrett’s meteoric rise through the NFL coaching ranks began in 2005, when the Miami Dolphins signed him as their quarterback coach. The Pennsylvania native, though, kept a low profile until Jones selected him as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator in January 2007.
Garrett applied his 12 years of experience as an NFL quarterback to Dallas in coaching Tony Romo, Dallas’ starting quarterback.
Under Garrett’s guidance, Romo threw for 36 touchdown passes on the season — the most of any NFL quarterback other than the Patriots’ Tom Brady.
Romo’s performance dramatically enhanced the Cowboys’ offensive production during Garrett’s first year — Dallas went on to score 455 points during 2007, besting every other offense in the league save that of the New England Patriots — and gave a giant boost to the young offensive coordinator’s career prospects.
Where Garrett’s career will go from here is anyone’s guess. Garrett, however, says that he is content with his new position as the Cowboys’ assistant coach and has no plans to take over the helm in Dallas.
“I have no intention of succeeding Wade Phillips,” Garrett said. “Wade is a great guy to work for; he creates an environment that faciliates success. I really feel like I’m working for as good a head coach as there is in the NFL.”
Garrett’s modesty is characteristic of a man used to playing in a backup role, but with a good 25 years left in Garrett’s coaching career, it’s hard to imagine that he will stay in that backup role forever.
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