Jason Garret is a former NFL player and now the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Jason Garrett was the offensive coordinator for the cowboys from 2007 to 2010 as well as the assistant head coach from 2008 until he was promoted to head coach after former head coach Wade Philips was fired on November 8, 2010.
History as a Player
Garrett showed great potential in sports during his high school years after actively participating in Ohio’s University School’s football, baseball, and basketball programs. In his senior year, he won All-League honors by playing as the team’s safety and quarterback.
Garrett played college football for Princeton University and had a short term as a Columbia University player before returning to Princeton. He won the Asa S. Bushnell Cup by winning the Ivy League Player of the year. He also holds the Ivy League career record for his 66.5 percent completion percentage.
Garrett first played as a professional football player with the New Orleans Saints in 1989 and 1990. He then played as the San Antonio Riders quarterback in the World League of American Football. In 1992, he transferred to the Canadian Football League with the Ottawa Rough Riders. He finally made his name with the Dallas Cowboys in 1993 and stayed until 2000 when he transferred and played for the New York Giants for 3 years. In 2004, he served briefly with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before ceasing his professional playing career with the Miami Dolphins.
Working for Dallas Cowboys
After retiring as a player under Miami Dolphins, the team hired him as the quarterback coach for two years from 2005-2006. He was then hired by the Dallas Cowboys the next year as offensive coordinator where he helped make the team become the 2nd best offensive team in the NFL. He was much sought after in the league and his salary was raised to almost $3 million which was the highest ever for an assistant coach in the NFL.
He was temporarily assigned as the temporary head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in November 8, 2010 after Wade Philipp’s poor 1-7 result during the early stages of the 2010 season. He steered the Cowboys to victory in his first game as head coach against the New York Giants on November 14, 2010. He also guided the team to its first home win during that season against the Detroit Lions the week after. He was became the official head coach on January 6, 2011.
Coaching Performance
The Dallas Cowboys under Jason Garrett registered 5 wins and 3 losses in the 2010 season finishing 3rd in the National Football Conference East while in the current running 2011 season, the team’s performance stands at 3 wins and 4 losses and currently ranking 2nd in the division. He has won 8 of 15 games so far giving him a total head coach win-loss ratio of 0.533. He might want to try and raise that win-loss ratio if he wants to gain the support of his fans to purchase Cowboys tickets.
Plans For The Future
Garrett is known to be a coach who values current performance of players and not with their pedigree. He has already proven this before the start of the 2011 season by releasing experienced Cowboys players such as Andre Gurode, Leonard Davis, Marc Colombo, Igor Olshansky, Marion Barber, and Roy Williams. With his strategy, it doesn’t look as if Garrett’s release of poorly performing experienced players and fielding of fresh talent is paying off. Neither does it look like its failing. Many see Garrett’s use of younger and more athletic players in the offensive line as an unnecessary risk that may lead to disastrous results but so far, their performance is still respectable. What’s clear is that Garrett is taking training to the next level by making bye weeks more training-intensive.
