IRVING, Texas – It doesn't appear that Troy Aikman will be in the Cowboys' front office any time soon.
The former Cowboys star quarterback and current television sportscaster's interest in a front office job has been a topic lately, but Aikman quelled some of those notions and mentioned how Dallas would be an unlikely fit if he eventually decides to work his way into a managerial role with a team.
"I answered the question on Sunday and it's just, 'Oh, that's an easy question, that's an easy story, let's go ask Troy about this.' It just continues, and there's not a story there," Aikman said Thursday on Sportsradio 1310 and 96.7 FM The Ticket. "As it relates to Dallas, which is where everyone here in the Metroplex goes with it is, 'Oh, OK, Dallas.' Well that's not going to happen in Dallas because of the structure of this organization. I think everybody knows that."
Aikman said it's an easy question and story to ask him about a potential move to the front office and a potential general manager job, but he said his comments on that have remained consistent the last two weeks with his thoughts the last 10 years.
"I think some people maybe hear my comments and they think, 'Oh, well he thinks he can just step right into a GM role after having been a broadcaster like Matt Millen did,'" Aikman said. "That's not it at all. In fact, what I have said to many people is that if it were something I wanted to pursue – and I'm not sure that it is and I'm not sure that it's not – but if it was something I wanted to pursue, now would be the time to start preparing myself for that and get involved with an organization, start learning what has to be learned."
Before that can happen, he said there are steps that have to be taken. First, the timing has to be right. In addition, he wants to be able to put in the amount of time it would require for him to do his job to the best of his ability. [embedded_ad]
"I don't believe there are any shortcuts in anything in life," Aikman said. "Then the question becomes, well, whenever the timing is right for me to do that, how old am I going to be and how much time do I want to then serve in an apprenticeship-type situation to ultimately go on and do what I'd like to do?
"There's a lot of factors in there, it's just, I guess where I could have maybe handled it differently is just said, 'No, I have zero interest in it.' But then that's not being honest. I've answered the question as honestly as I could."
He's not sure if anything will materialize at this point with him eventually taking a front office position. But any talk of him jumping at a specific job in the near future or him being in talks with a team right now doesn't appear likely.
With Jerry Jones as the owner and general manager of the Cowboys and him not relinquishing any of those titles in the near future, and with Jones' son, Stephen, as the team's executive vice president, it doesn't appear likely Aikman's future in the front office will be in Dallas.
"It's a little bit like the question every year is, 'Hey, all right, do you think Jerry the owner should fire Jerry the general manager?' How redundant is that argument?" Aikman said. "So, it's a little bit the same way, that nothing like that would happen in Dallas."
