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Cowboys won't choose HC until after SB, but things get spicier

Jerry Jones announced that the Cowboys won't be announcing a new coach until after the Super Bowl. Here's a little of what he said.

"Bill's leaving was a surprise," Jones said in the lobby of the Cowboys' Valley Ranch headquarters. "But as it should be, I have things in my desk drawer and things in my back pocket that should prepare you in case somebody gets hit by a car so to speak."

Jones said he could possibly interview more candidates this week in Miami. But Jones could have another talk with several of the candidates he's already interviewed.

[snip]

"I'm very pleased with what we've done," Jones said. "The work we're doing, the time that I'm spending with these candidates is as it should be. We got a good football team and I've got to get this right. We've got to make a good decision when we select the next coach."

Meanwhile, BTB regular furiousstyles74 has posted a very interesting article from ESPN in a Diary.

The main focus of the article:

While Norv Turner remains the leading candidate to be the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that Turner has made some stipulations to the team, including asking for control over choosing his staff.

And it now looks like Turner would want Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera as his defensive coordinator in Dallas.

According to league sources, the Bears will allow Rivera's contract to expire at the end of this season (after the Super Bowl), and Rivera could leave the team to join the Cowboys staff.

This is getting intriguing. I had speculated and talked myself into the idea the Norv Turner may be looking to bring his fellow 49ers coach Mike Singletary over as his defensive coordinator. Turner has an interview, it's reported that he has someone in mind to coach the defense, and then out of the blue Singletary is scheduled for an interview. It made sense, Turner has coached with him for a year, Singletary has learned the 3-4 from Mike Nolan, Jerry wants to remain a 3-4 team, it smelled like the real thing.

But the article above says that it's Ron Rivera that Turner wants. The fact that it's not Singletary he wants is backed up by this article posted in the comments by BTB regular dunkman.

Norv Turner has already assured 49ers coach Mike Nolan he would not try to take any 49ers assistants with him to round out his coaching staff with the Cowboys if he were hired for the job. Singletary is not a candidate to become the Cowboys' defensive coordinator, saying he would only leave the 49ers to become a head coach.

So instead of Turner and Singletary working as some kind of package deal, they're actually working against each other. Now, from all indications, the Singletary interview looks like it's very serious.

And what about Norv asking for control over the staff hires? Is Jerry going to give Norv - or any of the candidates - that kind of power? He should, but this is Jerry Jones we're talking about. How does Rivera's 4-3 background play into it? Is Jerry willing to chuck the 3-4 and allow Rivera to run whatever he wants? Or would Rivera consider coaching in the 3-4? I read some quotes from him a few weeks ago where he said scheme doesn't really matter, he teaches concepts. He indicated that he's flexible.

On top of all this is the idea that maybe Jerry is waiting until after the Super Bowl because he wants to interview Rivera himself, maybe for the head coach or for the defensive coordinator.

It's going to be rumor city over the next few days.

Update [2007-1-31 17:18:53 by Grizz]: The Cowboys lost another assistant:

Add Freddie Kitchens to the growing list of coaches to flee Valley Ranch since the season ended.

An NFL source said Wednesday that the Cowboys' tight ends coach has accepted a position with the Arizona Cardinals.

Kitchens spent the 2006 season with the Cowboys, his first year on the staff.

He will join former Cowboys assistant Todd Haley, who recently accepted the offensive coordinator job with the Cardinals.

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