The fifth year of the Mike McCarthy era in Dallas came to a close on Sunday afternoon with a 23-19 loss to the Washington Commanders, as the Cowboys ended the season with a 7-10 record. Now, the organization has a decision to make: Do they resign head coach Mike McCarthy?
While McCarthy’s contract expires on January 14, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not provide an answer to that question in his postgame press conference, but McCarthy made it clear that he wants to be back.
“Absolutely. I have a lot invested here, and the Cowboys have a lot invested in me,” McCarthy said when asked if his first preference was to remain head coach in Dallas. “And then there’s a personal side to all these decisions. So, they all point in the right direction.”
Those discussions are a two-way street, and McCarthy has not met with Jones but will have those conversations in the near future.
“No, we have meetings tomorrow morning with the players, but we’ll get together here in the near future.” McCarthy said when asked if he’d spoken to Jones about his future.
McCarthy made his case to be retained in his postgame press conference and is confident in his ability to continue his tradition of being a winning head coach despite struggles this season.
“I don’t like to talk about myself that way, but I’ll just be clear: I’m a winner. I know how to win. I’ve won a championship. I won a championship in this building,” McCarthy said. “And that’s who I am. We’ll see where it goes.”
In his five seasons thus far, McCarthy posted a 49-35 record with the Cowboys. His 59%-win percentage ranks fourth amongst all Cowboys head coaches in the team’s history, trailing Barry Switzer, Wade Phillips and Tom Landry.
Through 18 years as an NFL head coach, McCarthy is 185-123-2, making him the 12th winningest head coach in NFL history.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself as a head coach,” McCarthy said. “I think like anything, body of work, statistics, I think it’s more about the program, the details of what needs to be done, how can we get better.”
McCarthy built the Cowboys program into one that won 12 games in three straight seasons, and still believes in the foundation that he’s set in Dallas.
“I’m a builder. I believe in building programs, I believe in developing young players,” McCarthy said.
“At the end of the day, it is about winning, and you have to have those components in place to get this thing where it needs to be, and I think we have a very good foundation there.”
With plenty of questions and speculations looming over his future in the coming week, McCarthy believes that with him at the helm, the program he’s built with the Cowboys can continue to grow.
“I’m definitely in a position with Jerry [Jones] to move the program forward, there’s no question about that in my mind,” McCarthy said. “That’s why these conversations need to happen in the near future.”