Bye, guys, it's been nice knowing ya !
Posted on 12/30/2002 10:59:20 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Cowboys Officially Dismiss Campo
Nick Eatman
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
December 30, 2002, 12:30 p.m. (CST)
IRVING, Texas - The speculation came to an end here on Monday.
After three seasons as head coach of the Cowboys, Dave Campo has been dismissed, announced Monday by owner Jerry Jones at a mid-day press conference at Valley Ranch.
Campo suffered through his third consecutive 5-11 season this year, the season ending with Sunday's 20-14 loss to the Redskins, which left his three-year head coaching record at 15-33.
Campo held an emotional 30-minute meeting with the team Monday morning, then met with his coaching staff as Jones then met for a few minutes with the team before holding a press conference.
"That was a tough way to finish the season," Campo said following the first loss to Washington since 1997, leaving his winning percentage at .312, the lowest of the four previous Cowboys head coaches. "We're not real pleased to lose the last four ballgames. I'm just disappointed in the season we had."
While Jones did not immediately name a replacement, the Cowboys owner and general manager has already spoken with coaching candidate Bill Parcells on at least two occasions in the last two weeks. Sources around Valley Ranch say Parcells could even be hired as early as Tuesday and likely at least by Thursday.
Jones has also spoken to former Vikings head coach Dennis Green last week about possibly of becoming the next head coach. However, Parcells remains the leading candidate for the job, and it appears the two already have hammered out the essential details to sign a contract. Sources say Parcells could sign a deal worth $3-$4 million a year, which would be the most Jones has ever paid a Cowboys head coach since buying the team in 1989.
As for Campo, who still had two years remaining on his contract, his 14 seasons working with the Cowboys has come to an end.
One of the final coaches brought over by Jimmy Johnson from the University of Miami, Campo started out his NFL coaching career as a defensive assistant in 1989. He quickly moved up to secondary coach before assuming the defensive coordinator role in 1995 season. After five solid years leading the defense, Campo was promoted to head coach following the firing of Chan Gailey.
"I've seen Dave grow like I have," said Emmitt Smith, who might be saying his farewells to the Cowboys in a few weeks as well. "I've seen him go from secondary coach, to defensive coordinator, to head coach. And he's been effective at all levels, except for head coach. But I don't think it's a reflection on him as a head coach. Lots of things didn't go right for us and things Dave has no control of."
In his first season, Campo had to watch Troy Aikman, Joey Galloway and Rocket Ismail miss a combined 28 games, while the defense was the worst in the league against the rush, allowing three separate 200-yard rushers throughout the season.
The defense improved dramatically in 2001, but the offense regressed just as much. The Cowboys started four different quarterbacks, including rookie Quincy Carter for eight games. The Cowboys ranked last in the league in passing offense. The Cowboys also had to play with more than $24 million missing from their salary cap because of "dead money" shelled out to former players no longer on the roster.
And then this season, which was supposed to be the start of the turnaround, the Cowboys appeared to have enough talent to make a playoff push. Instead, the offense never got on untracked under Carter's guidance, and really wasn't much better under rookie Chad Hutchinson, who started the final nine games. The offensive line suffered an unbelievable amount of injuries early, headlined by Larry Allen finishing just one game all season and ending up on injured reserve following ankle surgery. The defense anchored the team all season, but still didn't get enough pressure on the quarterback, finishing with just 24 sacks.
"We had known, because we had such a young team, that we would struggle some early on," Jones said. "But we would start to see positive signs as the year went on. But it's real disappointing that we're not seeing those right now."
Jones has said all season that continued progress would be the determining factor in evaluating Campo and the remainder of the coaching staff after the season.
However, the Cowboys lost their final four games, allowing a total of 115 points in the span. Everything seemed to unravel in the final seven minutes of the San Francisco game, when the Cowboys lost a 10-point lead and the game to end a two-game winning streak, and unfortunately for Campo, begin a four-game losing streak.
The Cowboys have several assistant coaches still under contract for at least one more season, including offensive coordinator Bruce Coslet, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and special teams coach Joe Avezzano.
There has been speculation Jones already has spoken to Parcells about retaining Zimmer, along with Avezzano and quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, all of whom have at least two more years on their contracts.
"He wasn't bringing them along fast enough ..."
Zimmer, Wilson, and Avazzano are keepers. Coslet has to go.
Will some Texan PLEASE buy Jones out !?!?
They all must go.
Zim's defense had an amazing ability to surrender a touchdown on almost every possession after the woeful Cowboys offense scored one.
The special teams were the worst in the history of Avezzano's career.
The quarterbacks seemed to regress the more they were exposed to Wilson.
Coslet must go. Period.
I say clean house of the Jimmy Johnson rejects, all of the good ones were taken long ago, Wandstadt, Davis, Turner, Wise, et al, and let the new guy bring in a fresh crew and start again.
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