Cowboys’ Tarnished Image To Get Buffing Jones Plans To Help Players Clean Up Their Act
Jerry Jones made a symbolic flight Friday morning by taking off in a Texas rainstorm and touching down in the sunshine of Arkansas.
His ambition for an expanded program devoted to player behavior is much the same: guiding the Dallas Cowboys to a fair-weather landing.
The Cowboys’ owner elaborated on a variety of issues attached to his reform movement. He spoke of deciding to move on the idea after Leon Lett’s substance-abuse suspension last fall and other obvious reasons - among them the collective smear of so many innocent players by so few.
He conceded that a series of drug offenses and scandals reflected poorly on him as the supreme administrator.
Jones talked of past attempts toward modifying behavior, mainly lectures on substance abuse and social disease, that may not have helped but did illustrate the Cowboys weren’t unaware of festering problems.
Keeping those episodes private was a mistake, he said. The public should have been told that management was more proactive than anyone knew.
Further, the hiring-to-come of a department to oversee player behavior had been discussed with a select number of present and past players. Jones sought their input - Charles Haley was the only name he dropped - in advance of this week’s announcement that Calvin and Janet Hill were being brought in as consultants.
Tasteless victory
What should be celebrated as a golden era for the Cowboys as the team of the ‘90s instead bears the onus of tasteless victory. Shame lies with 90 percent of the team’s good-guy citizens being tarred with the same brush as the scofflaws. Stink sticks to all by association.
“Do you know anyone who handles himself better than Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman or Daryl Johnston?” Jones asked.
“Yet all you see are the negatives that overshadow guys like Jay Novacek, Darren Woodson and Jason Garrett. That’s what got my attention most of all. How can this be when we have some of the greatest people who’ve ever been in sports?
“How this affects other players motivated me. The Darren Woodsons and Tony Tolberts have won three world championships in the last five years. This negative perception reflects on them.”
And the owner, too.
“I accept that,” Jones said. “I’ve learned a lot in the last year and a half that has helped me be aware of some of these issues and how to approach them. You know I have a tendency to overdo. I realize this has been a negative.
“I regret it. I will do what everyone expects me to do and use every talent and resource to make it right.”
What about Switzer?
How about the coach? There’s thought that correcting aberrant conduct should fall to Barry Switzer. Hiring 10 people to assist in this area seems to intrude upon turf for which Switzer should be responsible for keeping clean. So went recent howls. Every incident of misbehavior renewed loose-ship criticism of the head man.
Jones disagreed. Future emphasis on keeping or bringing on no-problem players will improve internal discipline, he said.
“If I see they’re not with the program, I won’t renew a contract. If they’re not on the same page with us, I won’t make a commitment to them. That will help him (Switzer) in terms of perception that he’s not running a tight ship.”
Jones told of exposing the team to the perils of drug use and indiscreet sexual liaisons. Former cocaine addict Maurice Lucas, one-time NBA star, lectured the Cowboys. So did a group of young women.
“They were as pretty as your sister,” Jones said. “The last thing they said to the players was, ‘We have AIDS.”’
Initial player reaction to Jones’ plan has been mixed. Aikman endorsed it. Woodson said wait and see. Kevin Smith made a disturbing denial in lieu of recent history by declaring: “I don’t really need that. I don’t think any of the guys on the team need that.”
The symbolism angle can be stretched to include Jones’ homebound flight from a speaking engagement. He was in a rush to a hospital for the arrival of son Stephen and daughter-in-law Karen’s third child. His carryover hope is that a rebirth of solid behavior by the Cowboys also is under way.
xxxx CHARACTER TEST Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has repeated a vow relating to consequences for players who fail to act as professionals. Character has become a priority in deciding to whom he will renew an existing contract or extend a new one - a pledge likely to be tested. -Dallas Morning News