Mike McCarthy describes post-season meeting with Jerry Jones

The Dallas Cowboys announced plans to retain head coach Mike McCarthy for a fifth season this week despite the team’s loss in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday. McCarthy met with team owner Jerry Jones to discuss the program from top to bottom, which ultimately resulted in the owner opting to stick with his coach.

“It was a long meeting, I think we went past 3 hours,” McCarthy said on Thursday. “First topic was obviously the disappointment with the end of the season. We talked about pretty much everything in the football program. We went the whole course. Went back through things we felt may have factored in, we went through all those layers. Then we talked about personnel and coaches and business affairs.

“I’m very confident in the direction and I like where we are and where I am,” McCarthy added.

Despite three straight 12-5 finishes in the regular season, the Cowboys have disappointed the fans in each of their playoff runs. McCarthy’s record is tarnished by his 1-3 playoff record but he’s confident he can bring Dallas a Lombardi Trophy before his time is done.

“We have an unbelievable fan base and they should be frustrated,” McCarthy said. “My message would be this, we’ve established a championship program it’s just not a world championship team yet. I know how to win. We will get over that threshold. I have total confidence, that’s why I’m standing here today.”

Cowboys opt to retain head coach Mike McCarthy

Team owner Jerry Jones assigned blame for the loss against the Packers to everyone within the organization, not just McCarthy. He said this week that he still believes the former Green Bay coach will lead Dallas to a Super Bowl.

“I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach,” Jones said in a statement. “There is great benefit to continuing the team’s progress under Mike’s leadership as our head coach. Specifically, there are many layers of success that have occurred this season as a result of Mike’s approach to leading the team, both with individual players and with our team collectively.

“Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our postseason goals. Certainly, Mike’s career has demonstrated post-season success at a high level, and we have great confidence that can continue.”

The Cowboys must now turn their attention to the 16 players heading toward free agency in March. They also have several young stars looking for contract extensions this offseason.