Jerry Jones defends decision to not pay top dollar for an NFL head coach: 'There's no correlation'

The Dallas Cowboys collapsed in embarrassing fashion in Week 8. Despite leading 17-3 in the third quarter, Dallas blew Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals after the team benched its starting quarterback for Gardner Minshew. It was a failure on all ends for Dallas. The team's defense suddenly couldn't get a stop despite a backup quarterback entering the game, and its offense couldn't put enough points on the board to put the Cardinals away for good.When a team fails in such a spectacular way, the focus tends to shift to the head coach. Brian Schottenheimer wasn't a big-name hire when the Cowboys chose him to succeed Mike McCarthy. Instead, the team went with who they knew, as Schottenheimer previously served as the Cowboys' offensive coordinator. That decision hasn't paid off just yet. While the Cowboys remain a strong offense, Schottenheimer is just 10-14-1 in a season-and-a-half at the helm. That record, combined with Sunday's result, have some wondering whether the Cowboys should have made a more splashy hire following the 2024 season.Doing so would have cost money, something team owner Jerry Jones has not been willing to do at head coach. Jones was asked about that strategy during his weekly radio appearance Tuesday. He defended the practice, saying expensive coaches don't necessarily produce wins, per Jon Machota of The Athletic."There is zero correlation (in the NFL) between how much you pay a coach or how many coaches you have as to winning. There is no correlation. And that's a random sample of years and all 32 teams involved. So put that in your hopper and smoke it."Jones is, seemingly, true to his word. Schottenheimer doesn't rank among the top-20 coaches in salary for the 2026 season, per Front Office Sports. Whether that's a smart strategy remains to be seen. Schottenheimer has yet to prove himself as a strong hire, and his team's collapse in Week 8 doesn't speak highly of his ability keep a team in line in crunch time. Jones is probably correct that having the right coach is far more important than having the most expensive coach. Unfortunately for Jones, it's his responsibility to make that decision.