So everybody is wondering what happened with the Dan Reeves deal with Jerry Jones. Why was Reeves working at the Ranch for a few days, actually breaking down film and working on some stuff for the offense, then suddenly he leaves the building and the relationship is terminated in its nascent state?
Power struggle? Money issues? Disagreement over a certain high-profile receiver? All conjecture that's been presented in different places.
But, according to Chris Mortensen and Ed Werder over at ESPN, it came down to a dispute over a job title and the duties that went along with that.
Veteran NFL coach Dan Reeves told ESPN on Wednesday that he believed he had successfully negotiated a multiyear contract with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that would have created a senior management position in Dallas. But the partnership dissolved when Reeves became uncomfortable with changes Jones insisted upon after Reeves rejected a job title that would have included him as a member of Wade Phillips' coaching staff. Reeves preferred an executive title with broader authority.
Make the jump for plenty more on the deal and why it died.
So Reeves thought he was creating a position with executive authority and Jerry was viewing it more as an assistant coach.
"I thought the thing was done, and we finally agreed on what the title was going to be," Reeves said. "I didn't want to have a coaching title and not have authority coaching-wise. I wanted to work with him [Jones] and Wade and help in any way that I possibly could. We finally agreed the coaching thing wouldn't be in there, but then the contract changed and there were some things in there I couldn't see being in there, and they were important to him. He made a lot of concessions, but this was something that was important to him, and I just didn't feel like I could live with it. So it didn't make sense for us to go forward."
Well, that's kind of vague, it doesn't appear that Reeves harbors any ill-will but he's obviously very disappointed. So money wasn't the reason but it looks like that areas of authority were something they disagreed on and according to Reeves those changes came from Jerry.
On whether #81's future in Dallas had anything to do with the deal falling apart, Reeves said:
Asked if Jones had made a decision on Owens' future, Reeves said, "No, I really don't think one has been made yet. They have a lot of decisions to make and that's one of them because they understand they have to become a unified team. It's one of the things that needs to be addressed."
We all know where Reeves stood on that issue.
And finally, since Rafael asked the question at the bottom of a previous post, here's who initiated the hiring of Reeves.
Reeves credited Phillips, his defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons, with initiating the attempts to return Reeves to the organization with which he began his career.
Now, the Star-T has another source with a slightly different take.
According to another source, there was never any contentiousness in the negotiations, while saying the two sides differed on Reeves' schedule and how much he would be at the team's headquarters and practices, with Jones wanting more of a full-time commitment than Reeves, 65, was willing to give at this point in his career.
But that could be a similar issue to the job title and responsibilities. Maybe Reeves didn't want the coaching duties partly because he didn't like the schedule that would involve. Perhaps he thought the executive position would be a more reasonable schedule for him, I don't know.
Anyway, that's were we stand on the issue right now. The DMN blog has more Dan Reeves quotes, here.