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The Dallas Cowboys have finally decided to move on from Jason Garrett as their head coach.
After a week of “will they, won’t they?”, speculation, and false alarms, the Dallas Cowboys made their split with Jason Garrett official Sunday night.
The #Cowboys have officially fired coach Jason Garrett, and Garrett has allowed them to do so, source confirms. Obvious but now done. https://t.co/DnGtEWNuDF
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 5, 2020
It was initially reported that Dallas would move on from Garrett following the end of Week 17. However, those reports were, apparently, premature as Jerry Jones wasn’t yet ready to move on from Garrett. The two had several meetings, with Garrett reportedly lobbying strongly to keep his job.
In the meantime, the Cowboys were also interviewing replacements for Garrett in former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy and Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis.
We’ll just have to see where the saga goes from here, but at least Dallas finally, officially, has a coaching vacancy for the interviewed candidates to fill.
I’m told entire #Cowboys coaching staff has been fired.
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) December 30, 2019
Still, though, there are conflicting reports about the Cowboys’ intentions.
The move ends a near decade-long run of Garrett as the Cowboys’ head coach after a season in which Dallas first appeared to be one of the top teams in the NFL. All that went out the window following a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Buffalo Bills and a meltdown to end the season.
Dallas could be eyeing Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, and Baylor head coach Matt Rhule in their head coaching search.
This will likely put the Cowboys in direct competition with the Giants for Rhule, who’s services are reportedly coveted by the Giants. It also puts Garrett in the pool of potential coaching candidates for New York.
The Giants were rumored to be interested in Garrett before the season ended. Garrett does have ties to the Giants' organization as a former Giants’ backup quarterback.
The Giants have cast a wide net in their search for their next head coach. We will be watching to see if Garrett is added to that pool of candidates.