IRVING, Texas – Rod Marinelli would like to remain as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator going forward, according to his head coach.
Jason Garrett's season-ending press conference on Tuesday didn't provide any definitive updates on the team's multitude of expiring coaching contracts. Despite that, Garrett said he has expressed his desire for Marinelli to sign a new contract – and often.
"I express that to him on a daily basis," Garrett said.
To hear it from Garrett, the feeling as mutual, as he said Marinelli has expressed his desire to return for another guy as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator. In his first season at the post, Dallas improved from the league's worst defense in 2013 to a much more respectable 19th overall.
"Rod's just done a fantastic job not only for our defense but our whole football team," Garrett said. "He made our players better. He made our coaches better. He's just a great football coach and he's a great person to have in your organization. He represents all the right things and I thought the defense played remarkably well."
The Cowboys have a three-day window to negotiate with their coaches, many of whom are now out of contract, before league competitors can contact them. That window closes on Wednesday, and as of Tuesday afternoon there haven't been any updates – not for Garrett himself, Marinelli or anyone else.
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Other than that one small tidbit about his defensive coordinator, Garrett wasn't forthcoming with many other details. As Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said on Monday, the negotiating process is underway and neither he nor Garrett wanted to speak in specifics.
"I don't want to get too much into it," Garrett said. "The staff stuff is the business at hand right now, myself included, and a lot of coaching staff members that we have who are not under contract. We'll get to that and we'll try to get that stuff resolved here over the next few days."
As is the case with the roster turnover in the NFL, it's reasonable to expect that not all of the Cowboys' 23 coaches will be on staff when next season begins. Garrett was also asked about whether Bill Callahan has expressed desire to remain with the Cowboys, and his answer wasn't as detailed.
"We'll just work through all the staff stuff over the next couple days," he said.
