DMN: BLOG: Garrett's opening statement
3:05 PM Thu, Jan 17, 2008 | Permalink
Albert Breer
I know Tim spoiled already a little bit. But here's the full run-down of how Jason Garrett opened up his press conference:
“I just want to start off with saying that I’m awfully excited to be sitting in this chair. The last few days have been an interesting experience for me and for my wife Brill. I had a chance to visit with (Baltimore Ravens Owner) Steve Bisciotti and his wife and (Ravens General Manager and Executive Vice President) Ozzie Newsome and (Ravens President) Dick Cass up in Baltimore with some other people in the organization and it was a great visit. I can’t thank them enough for allowing us to go through that process. It’s pretty easy to see why they’re regarded as one of the premier organizations in football.
"It was fun for us to go through the process and visit with them about their head coaching position. Then Brill and I had a chance to go down to Atlanta and visit with (Falcons Owner and CEO) Arthur and Stephanie Blank and (Team President) Rich McKay and Tom Dimitroff – their new general manager – and it was equally a great visit for us. These are great experiences that we had a chance to go through. We told ourselves that we wanted to go through the process and fully investigate these opportunities.
"Mr. (Jerry) Jones and Wade Phillips graciously allowed us to do that and once we got through that process and as we got back to Dallas fairly late last night and came to a conclusion that for a variety reasons, this is the best place for us. The reasons to be me - you can articulate them and they’re pretty evident – they start with Jerry Jones and what he’s done for this organization and for this league and for giving us a chance to be a part of this team. This is a team that I have a history with and he just does a fabulous job as an owner giving us as coaches and our players a chance to win. He’s just a special guy and has been a special guy in my life for a long time. It starts with him and then it trickles down to Wade Phillips, our head coach. I had a chance to become the offensive coordinator here last year and work with a guy who is as fine as a guy I have met in football and in life. He’s just a tremendous person and is a tremendous coach. He’s great for us as coaches to work for, and certainly the players who respect him immensely, and is a great guy for them to play for. We made great strides this year.
"We didn’t achieve all of our goals, but we’re heading in the right direction. When Brill and I looked at each other we said, ‘Boy, we have a great chance here in Dallas.’ We have a great feeling for this place; we have a great feeling for Dallas; we have a great feeling for the Cowboys organization. A lot of it goes back to our history here, but I think maybe this decision to stay here has a lot more to do with the Dallas Cowboys in 2007 and what the Dallas Cowboys can be in 2008. I was talking to (Cowboys Director of Public Relations) Rich Dalrymple before, and you go through this process and we’re really fortunate to go through it, and you learn a lot from it as a result from it.
"But you go through the thing and you realize that you make decisions in lots of different ways. You make them intellectually, you make them emotionally, you make them with your gut – there’s a lot that goes into making important decisions in your life. As I reflected back on the last three days, and I didn’t know it at the time, I think I might have made this decision as I was standing in front of our offensive team on Monday after we lost to the (New York) Giants. There were some things that I wanted to say to them about how fortunate I felt to be one of their coaches and to be coaching with some of the guys in the room, and it was really hard for me to get through it.
"It was really hard. I stopped a number of times, but I was persistent because I wanted to get these thoughts out to these guys in the room and how much I respected them and how much I appreciated them. And when I reflect back on these past few days, I think that meeting told me maybe more than anything else that I needed to know about my feelings about this place. My feelings about this place, because of my time here in the past and because of what we can be in the future, but maybe more than anything else is what we are right now.
"There’s some great people in this organization and it starts at the top and works it way down through our head coach and the other coaches that I have the good fortune of working with and it filters down to our players. This year was a special year for me, and Brill and I feel like because of this and because of the way we feel about these group of people that this is the right place for us going forward and we’re excited about the prospects for the Cowboys in the future.”
Albert Breer
I know Tim spoiled already a little bit. But here's the full run-down of how Jason Garrett opened up his press conference:
“I just want to start off with saying that I’m awfully excited to be sitting in this chair. The last few days have been an interesting experience for me and for my wife Brill. I had a chance to visit with (Baltimore Ravens Owner) Steve Bisciotti and his wife and (Ravens General Manager and Executive Vice President) Ozzie Newsome and (Ravens President) Dick Cass up in Baltimore with some other people in the organization and it was a great visit. I can’t thank them enough for allowing us to go through that process. It’s pretty easy to see why they’re regarded as one of the premier organizations in football.
"It was fun for us to go through the process and visit with them about their head coaching position. Then Brill and I had a chance to go down to Atlanta and visit with (Falcons Owner and CEO) Arthur and Stephanie Blank and (Team President) Rich McKay and Tom Dimitroff – their new general manager – and it was equally a great visit for us. These are great experiences that we had a chance to go through. We told ourselves that we wanted to go through the process and fully investigate these opportunities.
"Mr. (Jerry) Jones and Wade Phillips graciously allowed us to do that and once we got through that process and as we got back to Dallas fairly late last night and came to a conclusion that for a variety reasons, this is the best place for us. The reasons to be me - you can articulate them and they’re pretty evident – they start with Jerry Jones and what he’s done for this organization and for this league and for giving us a chance to be a part of this team. This is a team that I have a history with and he just does a fabulous job as an owner giving us as coaches and our players a chance to win. He’s just a special guy and has been a special guy in my life for a long time. It starts with him and then it trickles down to Wade Phillips, our head coach. I had a chance to become the offensive coordinator here last year and work with a guy who is as fine as a guy I have met in football and in life. He’s just a tremendous person and is a tremendous coach. He’s great for us as coaches to work for, and certainly the players who respect him immensely, and is a great guy for them to play for. We made great strides this year.
"We didn’t achieve all of our goals, but we’re heading in the right direction. When Brill and I looked at each other we said, ‘Boy, we have a great chance here in Dallas.’ We have a great feeling for this place; we have a great feeling for Dallas; we have a great feeling for the Cowboys organization. A lot of it goes back to our history here, but I think maybe this decision to stay here has a lot more to do with the Dallas Cowboys in 2007 and what the Dallas Cowboys can be in 2008. I was talking to (Cowboys Director of Public Relations) Rich Dalrymple before, and you go through this process and we’re really fortunate to go through it, and you learn a lot from it as a result from it.
"But you go through the thing and you realize that you make decisions in lots of different ways. You make them intellectually, you make them emotionally, you make them with your gut – there’s a lot that goes into making important decisions in your life. As I reflected back on the last three days, and I didn’t know it at the time, I think I might have made this decision as I was standing in front of our offensive team on Monday after we lost to the (New York) Giants. There were some things that I wanted to say to them about how fortunate I felt to be one of their coaches and to be coaching with some of the guys in the room, and it was really hard for me to get through it.
"It was really hard. I stopped a number of times, but I was persistent because I wanted to get these thoughts out to these guys in the room and how much I respected them and how much I appreciated them. And when I reflect back on these past few days, I think that meeting told me maybe more than anything else that I needed to know about my feelings about this place. My feelings about this place, because of my time here in the past and because of what we can be in the future, but maybe more than anything else is what we are right now.
"There’s some great people in this organization and it starts at the top and works it way down through our head coach and the other coaches that I have the good fortune of working with and it filters down to our players. This year was a special year for me, and Brill and I feel like because of this and because of the way we feel about these group of people that this is the right place for us going forward and we’re excited about the prospects for the Cowboys in the future.”
posted by The Gryphon at 7:28 PM
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