On Friday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones attempted to reverse the perception/reality that he deliberately underspends on coaches. His explanation of the willingness to spend included an important admission: “I’ve been trying to get very successful coaches away from the teams they were on,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. Unless you’re referring to college coaches (or high school coaches), that’s manipulation. Period. End of discussion. It could be false: an effort to reinforce the idea that yes, you are willing to spend. Still, the effort to put out the fire of frugality that he started Tuesday by ludicrously claiming there is no correlation between coaches’ salaries and winning included a nonchalant concession that he has tried to lure NFL coaches away from their current teams, in flagrant violation of the rules. Will the NFL investigate this? Probably not. Because the league office surely realizes, like the rest of us, that Jerry was simply saying whatever he had to say to lessen the impact of the accidental truth he spoke Tuesday about a deliberate reluctance to do whatever it takes to make his team the best it can be.
