MOBILE, Ala. – Senior Bowl activities will carry on right up until the game and Saturday, but they'll proceed without the Cowboys' coaching staff.
Most of the Cowboys' coaches and executives, including owner/general manager Jerry Jones, executive vice president Stephen Jones and coach Jason Garrett, left Ladd-Peebles Stadium to return to Dallas on Wednesday morning.
The staff watched a handful of practices from both the Senior Bowl's North and South squads. But the main priority, at least outside the personnel department, appeared to be firming up the remaining unknowns on the coaching staff.
"We'll keep looking at what everyone's roles are and how everything settles down," Garrett said Tuesday morning. "We do have some coaches who are out of contract, and we're trying to get those things settled. We're just in the process of those conversations right now."
Questions still remain about the roles of Bill Callahan and Monte Kiffin, still under contract with the team, going forward in 2014. It's evident both coaches will be a part of the Dallas coaching staff next season, but questions about their roles have been answered ambiguously at best.
No one seemed interested in addressing those issues until the Cowboys' coaching vacancies had been filled, however -- namely openings at assistant special teams coach and tight ends coach. [embedded_ad]
"I don't want to address any of that until we finalize everything, and we're in the process of that," said Stephen Jones on Wednesday, as the staff prepared to depart.
That falls right in line with Jerry Jones' statement from earlier in the week, that he wouldn't be addressing the hierarchy of his coaching staff so early in the offseason.
"As far as the nuances of what we do with the staff and what have you, we will not be discussing at all right now," Jerry Jones said. "But I feel like with the staff we've got we could play Philadelphia."
Those uncertainties seem finished, though. The Cowboys announced the hiring of former Giants tight ends coach on Wednesday evening. His hiring isn't finalized, but Carlos Polk appears to be the name for the assistant special teams vacancy.
Any coaching conversations beyond that will have to take place in Dallas, however, as the Cowboys' time in Mobile draws to a close for 2014.
