the    sides

Wade Phillips - yes, that Wade, Denver fans - is the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. You can whine all you want about why is a 3-time retread head coach given another chance when there are a slew of younger coaches that should be given a chance. But if you think about the sequence of events - this hire actually makes some sense.

Key word here - SOME sense.

For most football organizations - the head coach is the face and leader of the organization. He is the one that makes the tough decisions, who to draft, and who to hire. In other words - he’s given enough control of the organization to be ultimately responsible for the success (or failure) of the organization. But that is not the Dallas Cowboy culture. Jerry Jones is that man there.

Let’s look at the basics of this situation.

1. Dallas runs a 3-4 defense, have the people to run the 3-4 defense. Any other hire would change that.

2. Jones hired Jason Garrett to be the Offensive Coordinator BEFORE he hired a head coach. So any head coach hire would have to be okay with that. I mean REALLY okay with it. Otherwise the drama would have continued in Dallas this season instead of winning football games.

3. With Parcells around - let’s face it - everyone was nervous - Jones included. Too many egos. The other candidates? From the hotshot coordinators to Norv Turner - they probably all had a bit of edge or arrogance or need to be the “final voice” for the organization. Which in any other culture - would be awesome. Not in Cowboyland.

4. The Cowboys needed a leader who had no ego, who just wanted to coach, who is disarming and humble, and who will trust his assistants.

You add all of that up - the only candidate who has any track record with those 4 things is Wade Phillips.

The hire was about fitting the current team, not leading or creating a new one. So in that regard - the hire was smart. The second observation shouldn’t be underestimated either - the owner of the Cowboys is the top spot, not the head coach.

How does all this relate to a church setting? While I’m not real comfortable looking at Jerry Jones as a leadership mentor, this is one instance in which I think much can be learned.

When most churches when they make a hire - especially at the “top” position (I hate using that word…but it will have to do) have a major decision to make out of the gate. Do we need a complete culture change or a guy who can put the current pieces we have together?

Unfortunately, most churches don’t deal with that nor are they able to. They hire what they believe to be the “best” person for the job without taking the time to wrestle with the first question. At that point - it’s a game of dice.

(I’m purposely not dealing with the Spirit’s role in this for now. Why? Because it gets real easy to blame God for our lack of digging or due diligence to the hiring process. Do I think the Spirit can cover mistakes? Do I think He can make up for a bad process? Yes, I think He CAN. The question is DOES He do that or does He allow us to deal with the consequences of poor decisions and poor use of resources?)

I’ve got plenty of friends that found themselves on the outside looking in because the church needed a “Wade Phillips” hire but instead hired a “Sean Payton.” In other words - they had the pieces in place but then hired a guy who was better at clearing the deck and starting over.

On one hand - I understand that. There are times when the deck needs to be cleared. It just goes better for everyone involved when that is clearly stated up front.

On the other hand - and there is always another hand - sometimes you need a mixer, a catalyst. The pieces are there, we just need to add an element that will get it to ignite. More often than not this is the staff or associate hires but in the Cowboy’s situation - it’s the head coach. And of course there are some church situations where that position is…

the Senior Pastor position. Some churches are Deacon/Elder/Committee led and the pastors - including the Senior Pastor - exists to implement the desires and direction of that board. That’s the culture of the Cowboys - so hiring a Wade Phillips makes complete sense. Churches that are lay board led get themselves into trouble when they hire somebody who wants to lead and have the room/authority to lead. Instead, they’d (and their congregation) would be better served in finding a guy who understands his role and just “gets it done.”

The other side to this whole deal is for those of us who are vocationally called - do you know yourself well enough to know what kind of context you will thrive in AND do you have enough self-discipline to accept only those kinds of contexts?