- 7 minutes ago
Jerry Jones joined The K&C Masterpiece before the Colts matchup. Jones discussed his willingness to pay top dollar for head coaches, front office control, the trade deadline, and more.
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00:00We bring to you Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones. Good morning, sir.
00:06Hey, guys. How we doing? We're doing pretty well. I hope you are also doing well. I love
00:13getting a chance to talk to you not only about the Cowboys, but just happenings across the NFL
00:17and the rest of the world. And I would like to start kind of in that vein. Given the political
00:23happenings on Tuesday, do you think the state might be more open now to legalizing sports
00:29gambling? And where do you stand on all of that?
00:35Texas is one of maybe two states, and I could be off maybe some there, but not much. But
00:44that does not have legalized sports gambling. And of course, it does go on. And because of
00:50cell phones or phones across state lines. So gaming goes on all the time. And since
00:56it does go on and does have its best result when everybody's on the same page and you're
01:04controlling and watching for any of the issues that are involved with gaming. And so it is
01:10a plus in my mind with the best place in the world for sports, Texas, for us to have the
01:17gaming and hopefully the new turnover, you might say, and the politics will see it that way.
01:27What do you think it was about the league in general that over the years made them soften
01:33their stance on sports gambling and prediction markets and everything like that?
01:38Perception, just sensitivity about not wanting to think that there was anything other than just
01:46pure, pure, pure, everybody going out, doing their very best, pure competition and not wanting
01:53to have a situation where it might be eluded that a player or coach or anybody involved could
02:01be swayed by a financial or a wager. So that's it in a nutshell, the credibility factor. And the
02:09more the more the more the more scrutinized it is, the better it's understood, the better it's in
02:15control, the less you have in my and our minds of chance to abuse it and have it, in fact,
02:24involved with competition. Yeah, it's actually interesting, Jerry, because we kind of got to talk
02:29to Stephen about this when y'all were in Arkansas and you had you were around President Clinton.
02:34Uh, the, you've been, you've seen a number of different, uh, governors in the state. Do you
02:40always immediately reach out and, uh, and, and have a conversation whenever a new one comes
02:45in? Well, uh, that's a good, uh, uh, uh, that's a good topic. I'm really apolitical. Uh, I really
02:54can't afford to be, uh, a party, uh, because our fans are all parties. And, uh, so I'm very deliberate.
03:03Sure. When I have something that, uh, will help the Cowboys, uh, then I'm all in and I'll
03:10go all out. Uh, but it's all about the Cowboys. It's, uh, uh, not about, uh, I've, I've been
03:16told, well, you need to be more socially involved. Uh, look, uh, I'm, I do everything that I can
03:23possibly do, uh, to, uh, make the Cowboys interesting, entertaining, have fans come to the stadium, have
03:31people watch it on television. And, uh, that's my 99 and nine tenths percent, uh, reason for doing
03:39anything. So, uh, uh, that's what it is. And, uh, uh, uh, the, the getting really intensely
03:45involved in political is not my gig. Now, when you talk about entertaining fans and everything
03:52like that, you know, fans are going to ask this, so I got to follow up. Do you feel like
03:57you're also
03:57giving it your all to make sure that the fans see a winning team? Well, uh, I haven't changed
04:04at all, uh, since the, uh, first day that I got a chance to touch, uh, the, um, uh, national
04:12football league. I have a, uh, a pretty, pretty, uh, good background in sports and coaching before
04:21the Cowboys. Uh, I basically was as involved as, uh, anybody that, uh, had a, uh, uh, exciting
04:29and great time at the college level. And I was always involved in, uh, uh, coaches, their
04:36placement, uh, where it benefited the teams that I was for. So I've been around coaching
04:42all my life. My master's thesis was the role of, uh, uh, oral communication, if you will,
04:48by coaches in modern day football, that was my master's thesis. And my coach, Frank
04:54Balls got me interviews with the greatest bear Bryant, uh, Woody Hayes, uh, Paul Dietzel,
05:00uh, just on and on and on, uh, that helped me write my thesis about, uh, uh, uh, coaching
05:08and, and if you will, communication and really more as it relates to selling. So, uh, I've been
05:13around it a long, long time. The biggest thing that I have credibility, because no one really
05:19does know what's in my mind when I'm sitting there making decisions about coaches, no one
05:26good. And I don't even want to advance it out that they could. But when I got involved and
05:34had a chance to get involved in the NFL, I broke all records on earth about what money could
05:41be spent to be involved. It was the most that had ever been paid for anything that involved
05:47sports, uh, in that sense for it at the time, it was very risky. It, uh, it didn't for work.
05:55It didn't make sense. And Donald Trump was also in the business of being in ball teams at
06:00times that I feel sorry for that food who paid that for the Dallas Cowboys. And so really,
06:06really, uh, uh, uh, I'm saying that cause I'm very much aware of how our comments last
06:13show, uh, uh, developed a conversation around, uh, but, uh, uh, I'm a, uh, a risk taker
06:22by nature. Uh, when you hire a coach, you don't know how it's going to work. It's an intangible
06:29of how it's going to work going forward. All that counts is the past and making the decision,
06:34but going forward, it counts about what it's going to go. I'm by nature, an incentive person.
06:42I like to create an atmosphere. So the better you do, the more you get, uh, if I could do
06:50that, you'd be shocked at what I might offer somebody if they want a Superbowl, but let's
06:55all go in here. And, uh, I do the same thing with players. Let's all put a little on the
07:01table. Let's go out here and play. And if we win, we become wealthy. I'd love to do it
07:05that way. I'm an incentive, incentive guy. What this subject has been about lately is
07:11the hiring of that person. Not one time in my life that I have ever, if I wanted to do
07:20it, let money stand in the way of doing it. Not one time in my life to the point of
07:26being
07:26ridiculous. That's held true ever since the day I walked in the Dallas Cowboys about what
07:32I'm willing to do relative to football and football success. I have never on the basis
07:38of some coach saying, I'll come and I know you want me, but I won't because you won't
07:45pay me enough. That's never happened in my life. Uh, and so, uh, uh, when I hired Jimmy
07:51Johnson, uh, we, uh, we were weak for months before we even did a contract after he left
07:58Miami and came to the Cowboys just cause we want to be together. And then after we got
08:05down to finally get into a contract, we wrote it all up. And then I said, Jimmy, I said the
08:12Cowboys sign and it isn't worth the paper it's written on. They're broke. So I'm going to personally
08:18guarantee it. They didn't ask me to him, his agent attorney. I offered it. I'll put it
08:25on there. I'll personally guarantee this because I want you to empty your bucket. He would have
08:30anyway, and I'm going to empty my bucket here. So that's all you're bringing everything to
08:35the table. I'm bringing everything to the table. Let's go. Let's get in here and go
08:40with it. So my point is financial. Once you have decided the direction you want to go, financial
08:48is not a deterrent. No one will ever know if I've ever been interested in somebody that,
08:54uh, uh, that at the time was known to have, uh, let's say a substantive financial marketplace.
09:03No one will ever know. Well, the facts are, I have been out there and I have been trying to
09:09lure very successful coaches away from the teams they were on and knew full well that I was going
09:17to pay them for all their success. So that has been done. No one knows that, but I do.
09:24And so it is absolutely ridiculous. And I actually grin when somebody says, Jerry's not willing to pay
09:31the money for what it would take, uh, to get the right kind of coach out there. Now, whether I
09:37get
09:37the right kind or not, we'll all agree that it's risky, not risky. You just don't, it's ambiguous
09:43when you hire a coach because there've been many hired and not necessarily have won Superbowl. We
09:48all get that. And we understand all the nuances in between, but the fundamental issue of me not paying
09:57money for something that has a chance to be as wonderful as a Superbowl or a successful team
10:03is ridiculous is ridiculous. The other thing I'd have to say about it, I make decisions almost every
10:10day that have one hell of a lot more, uh, outgo, uh, uh, uh, coming or money. I make decisions
10:21every
10:21day that put hiring a coach's financial situation pale in comparison to it. And, uh, I drill wells. I have
10:30five wells going right now that costs more than any coach, uh, uh, to drill the wells than any one
10:36of them to drill right now. And we'll be done in three or four months. Those are, I have five
10:41situations that cost more than any coach. I know of each one of them in the NFL. It's ridiculous.
10:49Yeah, absolutely. And that, that is a very interesting answer. Thank you for that. I was
10:54hoping just kind of to the side of that. Do you feel that same way about control?
11:00When it comes to hiring a potential head coach who might want a bigger say, or maybe total say
11:06in player personnel matters? I have never felt that I had to back through the door when I know
11:14what I've risked and what I've put on the line and what I do with my life. I have never
11:20felt the need
11:22to think about control. I've put everything financially. I make all the decisions ultimately
11:32with the Cowboys. That's the way I've always done it. A lot of them have not been good Cowboys or
11:38otherwise. A lot of them have had positive results on me. So it's never an issue. Just think about it
11:45a minute. What in the world would have an issue with the individual that has potentially risked more
11:56than anybody they've ever met to be involved and spent more of their life doing everything we can
12:02do for the Cowboys? Think that a minute. That's not deliberate and that's not deliberate being too
12:12strong on the decision making. The other thing that you need to hear me say, is there anybody,
12:19a bunch of people going to be out here and say not the case, is that I wouldn't be talking
12:23on this phone
12:23with you if I didn't have many people change my mind about many things so that I can assure you
12:32that
12:32anybody that I've got at any place can change my mind. I'll never forget the story about Deion Sanders
12:40and I was in the other room. We were at a hotel. Steven was in the other room and I
12:45went in with his agent
12:47and I came out and I told Steven, we were going in to kind of talk and I said, well,
12:53we've done the deal.
12:54He said, what? I said, we've done the deal. I've done the deal for Deion Sanders. He said, what, what,
13:00what?
13:00And he grabbed me, hand on one shoulder and forearm up against my neck and pushed me up against the
13:06door.
13:06I said, what are you going to do? Hit me. Steven. Okay. And he said, no, we just, there were
13:13a lot of things
13:14to think about it at the time. Well, the record knows and everybody knows that he's the highest paid
13:21player brought in at that time in the NFL. And so my point about it, you can take any points
13:28away
13:28from it than you want there that you want to, is that financial is the one thing. I bought things
13:36that I couldn't pay for and had to work to pay for them. But the financial consideration, if we think
13:42that
13:42that's the way we want to go, is not an issue. It never has been.
13:47Hey Jerry, you're going into a stadium this weekend where the owner, and she's new, frequently
13:53goes down to the sideline, puts on a headset. She's listening in, taking notes. You used to
13:58be on the sideline a lot. And I know things, you know, things changed over time. I was curious
14:03when you did that, do you remember, did you just want to be around the game and learn more about
14:08the game? Or were you, were you kind of looking over somebody's shoulder during that time?
14:12I felt better about being down there. As a matter of fact, Jimmy, when the first thing we did, he
14:20said, I wish you would come to the sideline a lot, Jimmy. And he happened to be the coach at
14:25that
14:25particular time. The main thing is I was comfortable being down there. I have gone out and sat in the
14:35stand before at one of our football games, just to be clear. And so the whole point is that
14:43who in the world could appreciate more the talent of the people that we have around us than me? I
14:53depend on that. We have 6,000 workers every game that we play at the stadium, 6,000 workers out
15:01there.
15:01And we have literally hundreds of people involved in our football team. I can't tell you where they
15:08are in my eyes as heroes, many heroes appreciation for their work. And they're fabulous. And if you
15:16think that when one of them comes up to me and says, we need to do this different, we need
15:21to do that
15:22different. They're coming up to me knowing that I can do it differently. And if the, I just want to
15:30emphasize here that I do all the time decide to go in different directions by what an employee or
15:38somebody that technically works for me by definition, all of the time, that's where I get my input,
15:44because I know they've got self-interest in making this suggestion.
15:50You know, just real quick, I'm really fascinated by, you know, the stories about Jimmy Johnson
15:57and Deion Sanders. I do wonder, and I don't know if you ever think about this, like when you bought
16:02the Cowboys 37 years ago and when you were talking about the Deion Sanders contract, that was 31 years
16:10ago. Do you feel like the relevancy of those stories has kind of faded away and is not applicable to
16:16like
16:16this NFL right here and right now? No. I said them years ago because I know that mostly everyone that
16:24might be listening knows of those. There are a lot of people out here, I've got stories about the
16:31people that have recently joined the Cowboys or our organization. I've got those stories.
16:39The same kinds of stories prevail. And I have absolutely changed on a dime.
16:48Uh, sometimes I reject it and I'll go home and sleep on it. I'll come back and change.
16:53Hmm. But the whole point is that, uh, it's ridiculous. Number one, to think that the financial
17:02consideration of no, uh, at least now, now back when I first got here, I might not have been able
17:09to
17:09handle the money because I was on a short lease. I'd gone, I'd gotten that over my head.
17:15And so I had to really, really watch it during those particular times. Uh, that's not the case
17:21now. And, uh, so what we're talking about relative to financial, uh, really does make me smile.
17:30Uh, Jerry, the, uh, the Colts front office appears to be kind of selling off right now.
17:36They're making some moves to kind of reset what they're doing there. Do you think that motivates
17:40a team of players to circle the wagons or, or would you expect the Colts spirit to kind of
17:45easily be broken on Sunday? Well, I don't, uh, uh, expect, uh, uh, any broken spirits out there
17:53Sunday in any way. Uh, I don't want to relate because I've got enough explaining to do about
18:01running the Dallas Cowboys. So I don't want to talk about any other thing, much less the one we're
18:06playing Sunday, but I will assure you, uh, that who walks out on that football field. That's a,
18:12that's another point. Uh, a lot of people I've never ever witnessed or heard somebody coaching,
18:22especially coaching in the NFL that because they didn't get paid as much as maybe their agent thought
18:29they ought to have when they took the job that they worked less or they had less passion for it.
18:36I've never seen coaches. Coaches don't operate that way when they walk out there. Generally,
18:42they, they are hell bent, put the blinders on to be the best they can and get everybody around
18:48and be the best they can. So no, I don't think that as far as an incentive to be a
18:56hell of a coach,
18:57that the money is a big thing. What we're talking about is when they're hired.
19:03And what I want to emphasize is, is never ever have I ever let the financial aspect of it.
19:12Once I have decided to hire the individual coach, keep me from hiring somebody. Frankly,
19:19I've never had that in any part of my life. And I've had times when I've paid people that I
19:24had to
19:25figure out how I was going to pay. Now we have the trade deadline coming up on Tuesday. I know
19:31you've talked plenty about what could or may not be out there in the trade market. We've seen that
19:37really explode the last several years in the NFL. The focus is on the Colts on Sunday. If for any
19:43reason
19:44that game ended in a defeat, would you reevaluate and perhaps be looking to trade off any assets at the
19:51trade deadline? Well, I have, uh, I really believe that we have a team that the work we've done over
20:01certainly the last 18 months or the last, last year and this year, uh, has a real potential to play
20:09better than it's playing now. And so, uh, uh, my situation, I'm not talking about, uh, in an
20:15night, plus I'm not talking about any other team. I'm talking about our situation, our situation,
20:20because of the amount and the commitment and the changes that we have made. Uh, it's not in my mind,
20:29the smart thing to do to make big adjustments. So I'd lot more likely be adding to this, uh, direction
20:38than taking away from it. Well, we appreciate the time as always best of luck on Sunday.
20:45You bet. Thank you.