According to a report from Mike Fisher of CBS Sports and 105.3 The Fan, the Cowboys are apparently working on a plan to have defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin retire from coaching. The report from Fish was live on the radio, and follows an earlier tweet from Jeff Sullivan that Dallas was working on something along these lines.

Cowboys want to stay with 4-3, but Kiffin won't return. Think Marinelli is first choice, will know more this afternoon. — Jeff Sullivan (@SullyBaldHead) December 30, 2013

On air, Fisher said the following:

The Cowboys seriously considering working out a way for Monte Kiffin, defensive coordinator to retire. If they do this in a civil way, it might persuade his lieutenant, the very loyal Rod Marinelli to stay, maybe move up and be the defensive coordinator.

This is actually something that I, among many others, have speculated on for the past several months. Could "retiring" Kiffin mean a move to a consultant role?

If Dallas can work out a way to not offend Marinelli and remove Kiffin from the play calling equation, that might be the best case scenario for the Cowboys.

No one ever complained about Marinelli's version of the Tampa 2 being outdated while he was commanding things in Chicago.

We'll have more coverage of the coaching carousel as it comes up, as there are also rumors about Bill Callahan being on his way out of Dallas.