ESPN's Mosley: Jones Had Little Choice

Feb. 9, 2007— -- When Cowboys owner Jerry Jones couldn't find anyone else to interview, he finally went with Wade Phillips as the club's seventh head coach.

Jones broke down twice during an hour-long news conference Thursday afternoon during which he lavished praise on Phillips and managed to duck several questions.

"It's the most extensive interviewing process that I've undertaken," Jones said before listing several highlights from Phillips' career. "…We needed to get it right and we got it right."

I'm told Jones was still leaning toward former Cowboys offensive coordinator Norv Turner as late as Wednesday afternoon, but by 7 p.m., he was calling Phillips for what he called a "second interview." The move came as somewhat of a surprise after watching Jones and Turner pal around in Miami Beach last week.

When Jones said he had a "leaning" Saturday afternoon, it was obvious he was referring to Turner, although Phillips said he never had that feeling. In the end, Jones' preemptive strike to hire Jason Garrett from the Dolphins may have hurt Turner's candidacy.

Turner looked forward to coaching with Garrett, but that doesn't mean he wanted to share play-calling duties with him. Turner yearned for more authority during his head coaching stops in Washington and Oakland and may have asked Jones for too much. Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman weighed in on Turner's behalf and sounded surprised about Jones' change of heart during his weekly local radio appearance Thursday morning.

With his decision, Jones is placing the development of his talented but inexperienced quarterback Tony Romo in the hands of someone who was a backup quarterback for 12 years, but only has two years experience as an NFL assistant.

Romo was the first person I heard from when ESPN broke the Phillips-to-Dallas story early Thursday morning. He already has met with Garrett, who referred to himself as a "big Tony Romo fan" last week in Miami, and said he has talked with New Orleans coach Sean Payton about him.