The Dallas Cowboys fans have been suffering through the last three decades of Jerry Jones running the organization with nothing to show for it. And for over three decades, Jones has continued to say there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to win another Super Bowl.
Jones has famously said, ‘he’d be embarrassed by the size of the check
he’d write to win another Lombardi Trophy.’ Except, of course, paying a top coach to lead the way.It’s something Cowboys fans have long griped about with Jones, and on his weekly radio appearance with 105.3 The Fan, the owner said the quiet part out loud; he doesn’t want to pay for the best coach available.
Jerry Jones on @1053thefan on him not paying top dollar for coaches: “There is zero correlation (in the NFL) between
how much you pay a coach or how many coaches you have as to winning. There is no correlation. And that’s a random sample of years and all 32 teams involved. So put…
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 3, 2026
For someone who tells us all there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to win a Super Bowl, there does appear to be something he won’t do. Not exactly leaving no stone unturned, now is it?
The argument makes little sense. Just as the best players make the most money and give teams the best chance to win, so do the best head coaches. If a coach has success, he’s going to be in demand, which means it’s going to cost more to hire him.
It’s basic common sense, not just in football, but in life. The best workers get paid the most; it’s that simple. If a coach is consistently winning, he’s going to be in demand and requires a higher salary. Most NFL teams operate this way, trying to find the best coaches, just not the Cowboys. Remember, there is no salary cap on coaches and the Cowboys are the most valuable sports franchise in the world.
Jones obviously doesn’t see it that way, but he’s on the wrong side of the argument.
Of the top 10 paid coaches in the league, five have won Super Bowls, and have a combined 7-7 record in the NFL’s biggest game. Expand that to the top 15 and it’s eight Lombardi Trophies.
The remaining 17 coaches on the list have won just one championship, Mike MacDonald’s win last season, and have gone to only three title games.
— JD (@JonnieD54) November 3, 2026
Also currently, among the teams in the league who are currently at least two games over or better, only one coach isn’t making at least $10 million a season, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Zac Taylor. That shouldn’t be a surprise because the Bengals are notoriously cheap as well.
The Cowboys are 3-5, and are paying coach Brian Schottenheimer the lowest salary in the league at $5 million.
Jones may not like the results, but he’s getting what he’s paying for. Schottenheimer’s 1.5-year tenure with the Cowboys hasn’t been good, compiling a 10-14-1 record. The team has been a major disappointment this season and coaching errors seem to be one of the biggest factors in Dallas’ losses. Jones can sit in his owner’s box every Sunday and throw a fit with each loss, but he must know he’s a big part of the problem. It’s hard to complain when you don’t hire the best people for the job.
Last offseason there were a host of strong candidates, including Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, Kellen Moore and Mike Vrabel, yet the Cowboys never interviewed any of those options. Johnson and Coen made the playoffs in their first seasons and are leading top contenders for the Super Bowl this year, while Vrabel got his New England Patriots team to the big game last year and are 5-3 in the current campaign.
Jones hasn’t had a top coach in the league since he parted ways with Jimmy Johnson, and the results speak for themselves. He claims he’s desperate to win another Super Bowl but won’t hire a competent coach to help him get there. Jones wants the credit if the Cowboys manage to win another Lombardi Trophy, something he can’t get if he has a top head coach on the sideline.
It’s a silly approach and something the Cowboys fans are tired of. However, Jones once again defiantly refuses to entertain the idea of paying for the best coaching option.
Guess he wasn’t serious about that whole ‘winning another Super Bowl’ thing after all.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys' Jones sounds hypocritical in defiance of coaching pay trends
