Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones dismissed the idea that higher coaching salaries correlate with winning, asserting there is "zero correlation" in the NFL.
"In the NFL – this is after years of looking at all the teams and all the coaches – there is no, there is zero correlation between how much you pay a coach or how many coaches you have as to winning," Jones said Tuesday during a radio interview on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. "There is no correlation, and that’s a random sample of years and all 32 teams involved. So put that in your hopper and smoke it."
Jones' comments come as the Cowboys are struggling with a 3-5 record and recently suffered a loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The team's head coach, Brian Schottenheimer, earns approximately $4.5 million annually. This figure is significantly less than the salaries of some other NFL head coaches, such as the Jaguars' Liam Coen ($12 million) and the Bears' Ben Johnson ($13 million).
Both the Bears and Jaguars have seen postseason success in their first seasons under Johnson and Coen, respectively, and are experiencing strong starts to the current season. Additionally, former Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who hold a 6-2 record.
Jones also defended his coaching hiring philosophy, emphasizing creativity. "The point is that you can be pretty creative in hiring your coaches," he said. "You can be creative sometimes when you don’t even know you’re hiring the coaches. And so I’ve had some good experience of hiring people who have never been in the NFL. I’ve had some experience of hiring young coaches, older coaches, and so, and of course, you constantly remind me, as you should, of what my record is and I understand that."
He concluded by referencing the unpredictable nature of success in the sport, stating, "But I also know that the next you throw the pick, if you were the old California gold miner, you may hit the Comstock lode. And then it is glory hope."