Monday 6 January 2020 16:20, UK
Mike McCarthy has confirmed he will be named as the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
On Monday McCarthy told NFL Network that he has 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.
McCarthy, who has been out of work since being sacked by the Green Bay Packers in December 2018, had also met with the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Carolina Panthers.
The 56-year-old was dismissed by the Packers 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 postseason, including a victory in Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
McCarthy's Packers twice knocked Garrett's Cowboys out of the playoffs, winning divisional-round games in 2015 and 2017.
Garrett was head coach of the Cowboys for nine seasons and interim head coach for part of another season, finishing with an 85-67 record as head coach.
Garrett, whose contract would have expired on January 14, 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 interviewed with the Cowboys on Saturday and reportedly could consider former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis as defensive coordinator.
