One Day Later: Reeves, 'Boys Part Ways

Apparently Dan Reeves was in the process of decorating his new Valley Ranch office* when he suddenly decided that working for the Cowboys wasn't such a swell idea. Despite spending most of Thursday on the radio, Reeves wasn't willing to elaborate on why things didn't work out (he was too preoccupied with the never-ending Terrell Owens saga).

Today, though, Reeves was a little more chatty. According to the Dallas Morning News, the former NFL head coach wasn't all that jazzed by a clause in his contract detailing how many hours he was expected to work.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones and Reeves agreed in principle to a multi-year deal that was supposed to start Monday, but the former Cowboys assistant coach and player did not know about the clause.

"Oh, definitely, big-time," Reeves said when asked if he was surprised by the clause. "For someone to question how I've done [my time] for a lot of years, I've never been questioned. Plus, as a coach, how can you verify that? Nobody punches a clock."

And that's the thing: it's not like Reeves is a fresh-faced coach just promoted from quality control assistant. The guy has nearly a quarter-century head coaching experience with three franchises, compiled a 190-165-2 record, including four Super Bowl appearances. I'm guessing he knows how things work around an NFL front office.

"You don't work 23 years in this business whatsoever without some kind of work ethic," Reeves said. "To me, why would you want it in there? A contract should be like a handshake anyway."

Just so I understand: the Cowboys are willing to take a chance on guys like Tank Johnson and Pacman Jones, but there's no way in hell they're hiring Reeves without the minimum-hours-worked-per-week clause? Makes sense.

On the upside, both Reeves and Jones still have a fondness for each other and hope to work together in the future. Here's to keeping hope alive. Or something.

* baseless speculation