FRISCO (1080 KRLD)- It's only been four days since the Cowboys' season ended in Sunday's embarrassing loss to the Packers. Since then Mike McCarthy's job has been seemingly hanging in the balance -- until last night when Jerry Jones confirmed McCarthy will be back for the fifth and final year of his contract. There's been no mention of an extension but this morning McCarthy said contracts are not his concern.
These four days since the Packers game have been spent in post-season exit interviews with the players, conversations with his coaching staff and most important -- in a one on one sit down with Jones. In his season-ending news conference in Frisco this morning, McCarthy was asked about his comfort level going into the year without an extension that secures his future beyond the coming season and he replied "...I came here to win a championship. I didn't come here to win another contract or anything other than that. I came to Dallas to win a world championship."
In response to another question, McCarthy went on to say "...we have established a championship program. It's just not a world championship yet. I know how to win. We will get over that threshold. I have total confidence."
McCarthy acknowledges the emotions over Sunday's loss are still raw but it's now time to go to work to overcome the team's weaknesses heading into a new season. He also said he and his coaching staff are already re-evaluating the roster in light of Sunday's loss. While giving no specifics, McCarthy said -- based on experience -- about 25 percent of this year's roster will not be with the team next season.
As reported via our sister station 105.3 The Fan, despite a very disappointing end to the season that saw his Dallas Cowboys lose to the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the playoffs, Jerry Jones is defending the decision that came Wednesday.
"I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach. There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress under Mike's leadership as our head coach," Jones said in a statement released Wednesday.
"Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike's approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively. Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our post season goals. Certainly, Mike's career has demonstrated post season success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.
"Further, our loss on Sunday is shared by everyone here, not just Coach McCarthy. Our players. Our coaches. Our front office. Myself. There is accountability for our results. I am accountable for our results. The lens we use to view and evaluate Coach McCarthy is holistic. While we're all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our playoff record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals.
We will start our process of review and decision making regarding everything that impacts our team and roster and, while we're not going to address specific players and extensions or free agents at this point, it deserves our deepest review and consideration, and it will get it."
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