Jason Garrett’s contract with the Dallas Cowboys will not be renewed, the team announced Sunday. As a beat writer or columnist, Tim Cowlishaw has covered all eight Dallas Cowboys head coaches. His rankings of them are listed below:

1. Tom Landry (1960-1988)

Not a difficult choice. Beyond the two Lombardi Trophies and five trips to the Super Bowl in the ’70s, it was the 20 consecutive winning seasons and the 12 trips to NFL or NFC Championship Games between 1966 and 1982 that made the Cowboys a fixture in the nation’s living rooms. That’s how, loved or hated, you get to be “America’s Team.”

2. Jimmy Johnson (1989-1993)

No sense pondering how many more Super Bowls Dallas might have won if Johnson hadn’t left after back-to-back titles. He never stayed anywhere longer than five years, but he built one of the greatest rosters in NFL history in record time.

3. Bill Parcells (2003-2006)

The 0-2 playoff record isn’t much to brag about, but remember that Quincy Carter was handing the ball to Troy Hambrick in his first playoff season. Parcells inherited a mess, brought in coaches and personnel that refined the organization and, frankly, set the Cowboys on a course to do more than they have actually accomplished since he left.

4. Barry Switzer (1994-1997)

He will forever be difficult to evaluate because no one else takes over a young Super Bowl roster with a Super Bowl-winning coaching staff. Before the Cowboys became Team Turmoil (Switzer influenced that, too), a Super Bowl ring and a 5-2 playoff record kept the club near the NFL’s top.

5. Jason Garrett (2010-2019)

History will be kinder to this coach than the current fan base wants to be. Garrett owns a better career win percentage than three current Hall of Fame finalists (Dick Vermeil, Tom Flores, Dan Reeves), not to mention Jon Gruden, John Robinson and a host of respected coaches. But the two playoff wins in nine years unsettled everything.

6. Chan Gailey (1998-1999)

Not many coaches get fired after two seasons. Even fewer get fired after two playoff seasons. But Gailey’s determination to change the offense didn’t sit well with the quarterback, among others, and the Cowboys had much greater expectations at that time than losing first-round games to Jake Plummer and Jeff George.

7. Wade Phillips (2007-2010)

He had a decent record and recorded the team’s first playoff win in more than a decade but inherited a strong, veteran roster that should have accomplished more. Despite being a player’s coach, he lost the team quickly.

8. Dave Campo (2000-2002)

It’s easy to say he did what Jerry Jones asked him to do in presiding over a roster that was escaping salary-cap hell. But don’t forget that awful start, the notorious 41-14 loss to Philly at home in the “pickle juice” game when Andy Reid showed how to prepare a team for the heat and a season while Campo’s Cowboys were an awful mess.

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