Schottenheimer highlights a top candidate amid the Cowboys' expansive coaching search, hinting at unexpected paths and experienced minds.
FRISCO - To the credit of Dallas Cowboys management, they didn’t take “10 or 12 days’’ (as Jerry Jones had suggested) to evaluate Matt Eberflus.
On Tuesday morning, it seems to take about “10 or 12 minutes’’ to make the call to fire the failed defensive coordinator.
And now, more credit, in two more ways: One, Jones and company are once again wasting no time in launching the search for the replacement. And two, head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s “wide-net’’ pledge is also coming true.
A foursome of candidates has emerged for a first round of interviews as the Cowboys requested permission on Thursday to interview Broncos pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard, Vikings pass game coordinator Daronte Jones, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda and Atlanta defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
What do you need to know about them?
In the case of Ulbrich? Don’t count him out just yet, even though the Falcons denied the interview request. Ulbrich is still under contract despite Atlanta firing coach Raheem Morris and owner Arthur Blank wants to reccommend him to the next head coach there.
Depending on how that works out, Dallas could circle back on him.
Additionally, we shouldn’t assume that these trio of interviews marks the start and the end of the search. (I'm told it could be just the start of the process.) Indeed, in the specific cases of Daronte Jones and Banda, the Cowboys might prefer to hire their superiors - Jones works under Brian Flores in Minnesota while Banda works under Jim Schwartz in Cleveland.
Wouldn’t the Cowboys rather hire the master instead of the pupil? That seems wise - but Flores and Schwartz are presently interviewing for head coaching jobs.
Is there a theme with this present trio of candidates? And is there a thread that connects them to Schottenheimer, who is clearly more involved in this decision than was the case a year ago, when Jerry tabbed Eberflus?
To the second point: The Schotty connecton with Leonhard is so clear that he was asked about the Broncos top assistant at this week’s season-wrapup presser.
“Jim is a heck of a coach,’’ Schottenheimer said. “You talk about a great football player, man. Jim is an excellent coach and I think they had a heck of a year.”
Schottenheimer was on the New York Jets coaching staff while Leonhard played safety there. So again, there is connective tissue.
Leonhard also fits the profile in another way, as do Jones and Banda. A source told me this week that the Cowboys could bust the mold with this hire by tabbing somebody with extensive college experience - or could even pluck somebody straight off campus.
(The idea is born from what Dallas did a year ago in assembling Schotty’s offensive staff. Klayton Adams worked extensively in college before coming to the NFL and is now the coordinator here, and Conor Riley has always been a college offensive line coach but now has that role in Dallas.)
As it happens …
*Leonhard was the coordinator for six years at Wisconsin.
*Jones was the coordinator for two years at LSU.
*Banda has worked as the coordinator at Miami and Utah State.
Fresh faces and fresh views? There 'you go.
Jerry Jones is on record from this week as saying he might change his philosophy and consider a first-time defensive coordinator; historically, he’s hired D-coordinators with head coaching experience.
“That (previous) philosophy has not worked several times around here,’’ Jones said. “The way we’ve done it, I assure you, that the way we’ve done it in the past, that alone will cause me not to do it that way now.”
Former NFL head coaches? Nope. Indeed, none of the three candidates the Cowboys have requested to interview even have prior experience as NFL defensive coordinators.
But Daronte Jones is 47. Ephraim Banda is 44. Jim Leonhard is 43. And if it comes back to him, Jeff Ulbrich (who played in the NFL for a decade and has coached exclusively in the pros) is 44.
Fresh faces. Fresh views. None of them springing from “The Jerry Tree.’’
I’d rather have a Flores or a Schwartz, and maybe the Cowboys circle back there as well. But after the Eberflus experience, executing this process in a non-Cowboys-traditional way can only be a good thing.