The Perfect Fit for Big D?

The Dallas Cowboys are a woeful 2-6 entering week 9. They have been one of the worse teams this season. Unfortunately, newly hired head coach Mike McCarthy has already failed lofty expectations thus far. Earlier this season, anonymous reports from within the locker room surfaced regarding the lack of football acumen among the coaching staff. Another highly criticized member of the Dallas Cowboy debacle has been defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan. Mike Nolan’s last stint as a defensive coordinator was in 2014 with the Atlanta Falcons. That final season his defense finished 32nd in yards allowed and ranked 26th in points allowed.

But there’s an easy fix for the Dallas Cowboys woes; Two words. URBAN MEYER.

Last Fall, during an appearance on the Colin Cowherd show; Urban Meyer vehemently stated that the Dallas Cowboys job is the, “one job you can’t say no to”. Urban Meyer furthered his statement by saying he would accept the head coaching vacancy if offered by Jerry Jones. During this moment, I realized Urban Meyer would not only be an excellent hire, but a perfect one.

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Urban Meyer has had tremendous success throughout his college coaching career. Meyer started his head coaching career at Bowling Green before turning to Utah and transforming them into a national title contender. Later, Meyer had stops at Florida and Ohio State where he won national championship(s) with both programs. He stepped down at Ohio State in 2018. But why would Urban Meyer be a perfect fit for the Dallas Cowboys? I’m glad you asked.

As Aforementioned, Meyer has had a lot of triumph at his previous stops. He has a history of developing quarterbacks but most importantly Urban Meyer has been a defensive genius throughout his career. His defenses annually ranked inside the top 10 while at Utah, Florida, and Ohio State. Right now, Dallas needs defensive help. Meyers offensive schemes would transition well to the NFL too. He runs a spread attack that works primarily from the shotgun and pistol formations. He uses a lot of motion and often uses his receivers as runners. Sounds familiar? That’s because it sounds a lot similar to some of the higher-powered offenses in the modern NFL. Urban Meyer’s spread offense would schematically fit Dak Prescott’s strengths, and would also re-unite him with All-Pro running back, Ezekiel Elliott. Another important quality Meyers possesses is his ability to play “damage control” as head coach. While at Florida and Ohio State he routinely “put out fires”. Meyers teams possessed an innate ability to block outside noise and were highly successful because of it.

Lastly, the methodology of hiring talented college coaches with no NFL experience has worked for Jerry Jones in the past. In 1989 Jones hired Jimmy Johnson. Johnson had tremendous success at the collegiate level while coaching the University of Miami Hurricanes. Within two years of hiring Johnson, the Dallas Cowboys won a super bowl. In 1994 Jerry Jones again went into the college ranks and hired another coach with no NFL experience, Barry Switzer. He also helped lead the Cowboys to a super bowl in subsequent years.

As we begin the back half of the NFL season there’s no guarantee that Jerry Jones is even going to make a coaching change at seasons end. However, there’s a good chance that he will take a long look at Urban Meyer as the Dallas Cowboys next head coach if McCarthy isn’t retained next season. Why wouldn’t he? He is the perfect fit after all.