What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, I dive into the Deion Sanders-Jerry Jones-Dallas Cowboys dynamic, plus it’s time to start a dialogue on CFP reform and WVU did Jerry West weekend so right.
Deion and Jerry
I’m not a Cowboys insider. But I’ve lived in the Dallas market for decades and most of that time Jerry Jones has owned the Dallas Cowboys. I’ve been a keen observer and while I’m not an insider, I know enough.
I’ve spent the past few days trying to figure out if Colorado coach Deion Sanders taking over as the Cowboys’ head coach could actually work with Jerry Jones in charge?
I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when I tell you that both have healthy egos. I may be under-selling that. But, you don’t do the things the two of them have done without immense self-confidence and belief, which is the foundation for a healthy ego.
Put two egos like those in the room and, well, that can’t work, right?
Jones is not relinquishing decision-making duties as general manager. His family will have to pry that out of his cold, dead hands. As he said the other day, when he bought the Cowboys, he “bought a lifestyle,” and he’s lived that lifestyle hard from Day 1.
Related: If Deion Sanders Leaves Colorado, Here are Three Potential Replacements
Sanders appears to enjoy a tremendous amount of freedom at Colorado. Jean-Jacques Taylor, who was a columnist with The Dallas Morning News and wrote a book with Sanders, posted a thread earlier this week about Sanders as a coach.
Put those qualities in a manila envelope and give them to an NFL GM and they would likely say, “get me an interview now.” Put Sanders’ name on it and some might think twice. Jones won’t, in part because Sanders played for the Cowboys and they have a decades-long relationship.
But the freedom that Sanders appears to enjoy at Colorado would be tested in Dallas, in my opinion. The last time Jones gave a head coach real freedom to procure his own staff was Bill Parcells. Even then, he strongly urged Parcells to keep defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, which he did.
When Jones hired Mike McCarthy he inherited much of Jason Garrett’s remaining staff, including offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. McCarthy reportedly expressed interest in keeping him and did, but Jones holds Moore in extremely high regard and the current Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator has formally interviewed for the job.
A Sanders-Jones marriage, to me, comes down to one thing. You have two people that are used to being the star of the show. Sanders brought a reality show to Colorado his first season. He’s tempered things a bit in Year 2, but he won’t turn down anything that promotes his program. Jones, meanwhile, is the only pro sports GM I know of that does two radio hits a week on the team’s flagship station. He’s also the only one that does post-game interviews.
Can those two stars co-exist in a GM-coach dynamic? Jones and Sanders managed it well when it was a GM-player dynamic. But that’s completely different. Take Taylor’s thread to heart and there’s a lot more Jimmy Johnson in Sanders than one might suspect.
And we all know how that turned out.
It’s Healthy Discussion Season
Around the national championship game on Monday will be a meeting of the leadership of the College Football Playoff. All of the league commissioners, along with Notre Dame’s athletic director, will meet formally for the first time since the playoff started in December.
Universally, everyone digs the expanded playoff. But, sure there are tweaks that are needed. One that some have thrown out there is a seeding restructure.
There’s been some controversy around it. Why? Well, the four teams that received the byes were all conference champions and all lost. So, sure, let’s change that after one year.
Related: The Big 12 Has Four Million Reasons to Not Want to Change College Football Playoff Format
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that is unlikely that will change next season because it required all 11 members of the CFP Management Committee to agree.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, at least for now, sounds like a no.
“I’m open to a healthy discussion on the topic,” Yormark told Yahoo Sports. “I certainly have a point of view that will be expressed in the room, but I do not have the appetite to give up any financial reward that comes with a bye.”
First of all, Yormark is always open to a “healthy discussion.” But he knows where to draw the line. And that line is the $4 million teams get for reaching the quarterfinals — and that includes the teams that get the bye.
If his teams stand to lose money, that’s a no-go for him.
There’s also this nugget shared by Dellinger on Saturday.
There are only so many days in the week, folks. I’m interested to see if the NFL is actually committed to this (I don’t think they are if we’re being honest).
The Revenue-Sharing Guidance That Should Have Come Months Ago
The Department of Education released guidance on Friday that ruled that Title IX must be followed for distribution of revenue-sharing and NIL funds. In other words, it must be distributed equally. It amazes me that it took this long for the DOE to rule on this because, well, this seems like a natural outreach of Title IX. I mean that’s just logic talking.
I’m not going to spend much time on this for a few reasons. First, there is leadership change coming in the federal government. Second, there’s a belief that Congress will finally act on NIL legislation (I don’t believe they will, but that’s what the NCAA is desperately hoping for). Third, if Congress does act, I don’t think it will act in a way that will not be equitable.
In other words, stay tuned. And don’t expect it to be smooth.
Honoring Jerry
If there was one men’s basketball I wanted to get to this year it was the West Virginia game when they honored Jerry West, who passed away last year. I wasn’t’ able to swing it, but all indications are that the Mountaineers did it right.
Now, WVU has honored West all season with patches and decals with his No. 44 for all sports. But Saturday’s game with Iowa State was the big day, so to speak.
The Mountaineers have done giveaways like this much of the season.
Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, gave WVU a $5 million gift that will, in part, endow a scholarship in West’s name.
The players wore throwback uniforms that harkened back to West’s era and they were magnificent.
And, they unveiled the Jerry West collection of merchandise.
I might have to break my longstanding tradition of not buying Big 12 stuff. WVU did an incredible job with this. Folks in Morgantown are going to spend a lot of money this weekend.
The Tao of JJ
Here’s a really interesting piece on West Virginia guard JJ Quinerly written by Matt Cohen at winsidr.com. The headline says it all about the Mountaineers’ indispensable star:
“Tell me what you want to do and I will do it.”
Basketball coaches would love 15 players like that, especially if they’re the scorer and defender that Quinerly is.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
