The Tribune

By INIGO 'NAUGHTY' ZENICAZELAYA

THE problem with the Dallas Cowboys is not a lack of talent. It’s painfully obvious, it’s a lack of coaching. The Jason Garrett experiment as head coach has failed.

It has run its long, disappointing, underachieving course.

It’s time for a coaching change. Team executives, players and most importantly, the fans, deserve better.

Enter current Oklahoma Sooner head football coach, and star quarterback maker Lincoln Riley.

According to Jason La Canfora of CBS sports, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is mesmerised by Riley, who’s expected to listen to NFL offers in 2020.

La Canfora added:

“Several sources indicated Jones, if he does make a coaching change, is very intrigued by Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley.”

“Riley would be willing to seriously consider the right NFL openings in 2020, and, obviously, the Cowboys’ head coaching job is one of the most high-profile and coveted in all of sports.”

Clearly this adds more buzz to the already swirling rumours.

The Cowboys, making over their entire coaching staff with a high profile hire like Riley, isn’t etched in stone.

However, current Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett is on the hot seat the rest of the campaign.

La Canfora had these comments regarding Garrett’s future in Dallas:

“Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is not considering any in-season changes to his coaching staff, as he recently said on his weekly radio show, but that should not be taken as an indication that Jason Garrett’s status for 2020 is not in question, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.”

Riley has been a popular dot connected to the Cowboys in recent years, given his successful tenure with the Sooners (30-4 through three incomplete seasons) and the relatively close proximity to Texas.

Riley is also cut from the Kellen Moore (Cowboys offensive co-ordinator) cloth in that he’s a young (36), and considered around the league as a bright offensive mind.

Riley has repeatedly declined to consider the leap from college to the NFL, while earning a healthy $6.5 million annual salary.

Riley had this statement, in relation to making the move to the big leagues -

“The truth is for me is I love Oklahoma. I love coaching here. I love college football,” he said in October 2018.

“I certainly don’t have that itch right now. I don’t know that I ever will, but I’m never going to be a guy that’s going to stand up here and say no way, no how if any of these things ever happen.

“I don’t know that, but I know right now I couldn’t care less about the NFL. We’re trying to win this game and try to make a run that we all think we have in us right now.”

Hopefully, by season’s end, Jerry Jones can convince Riley to change his stance.

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