Cowboys hire McCarthy as head coach

Mike McCarthy is the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

McCarthy confirmed to NFL Network on Monday he signed a contract and will officially be introduced as the replacement for Jason Garrett, who was officially informed his contract would not be renewed on Sunday.

The 56-year-old McCarthy had also met with the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Carolina Panthers.

He was fired by the Packers on Dec. 2, 2018, after the team dropped to 4-7-1 during his 13th season at the helm in Green Bay. He finished with a 125-77-2 regular-season record while going 10-8 in the post-season, including a victory in Super Bowl XLV to finish the 2010 season.

McCarthy’s Packers twice knocked Garrett’s Cowboys out of the playoffs, winning divisional round games on Jan. 11, 2015 (2621 at Lambeau Field) and Jan. 15, 2017 (34-31 at AT&T Stadium).

Garrett, 53, was head coach of the Cowboys for nine seasons and interim head coach for part of another season. He was 85-67 as head coach. His contract would have expired on Jan. 14 and he was not expected to return after failing to reach the playoffs despite a 3-0 start and a 6-3 record through nine games.

“His tenure of leadership will be characterized by his ability to produce teams that always played with great effort, emotion and passion, and he represented our organization with great pride, loyalty and respect,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in the statement.

Multiple outlets previously reported that the Cowboys would prefer to let Garrett’s contract run out rather than fire the coach, who had been on the Dallas coaching staff since 2007 and spent seven years on their roster as a backup quarterback in the 1990s.

McCarthy reportedly could consider former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis as defensive coordinator. Reuters