Dallas Cowboys: Ranking the Coaches of ‘America’s Team’
7. Chan Gailey
(1998-1999)
Wins: 18, Losses: 14 (32 games)
I’ll always believe Gailey should have had one more season as the head coach of the Cowboys, rather than hiring Campo like they did, but with Jerry Jones calling all of the shots back then (more so than he does now), the Cowboys didn’t really have a chance to be the team they once were.
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Gailey did lead the Cowboys to the playoffs both of his seasons in Big D, but there were a lot of players from the Cowboys of the early ’90s still playing serviceable football at that time.
If Gailey was given more of an opportunity, maybe the Campo years wouldn’t have even existed, and that is something all Cowboys fans probably would want to have.
In 1998, the Cowboys were 10-6 and were the NFC East champions, but they were embarrassed in the Wild Card round of the playoffs by a 20-7 score. After that loss, we can be honest in saying it was not a good time to be a fan of the Cowboys, following all the past seasons of success in the playoffs.
Even though Gailey went 0-2 in the playoffs with teams who should have been a little better, he still wasn’t the worst coach in the history of the franchise.
His final season of 1999 with the Cowboys saw the team finish second in the NFC East at 8-8, seeing the disappointing season end with a losing record following a 27-10 Wild Card loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Who knew it would be four seasons until the Cowboys reached the playoffs again?
Next: No. 6: Can the current coach become great?