Dave Portnoy: ‘I Would Run my Team Exactly How Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Runs His’

In Dallas, Texas, Jerry Jones is the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys, as the team owner also serves as the franchise’s general manager.

Is that actually a good thing?

“I’ve always been a Jerry Jones guy, and I would run my team exactly how Jerry Jones runs his team,” Dave Portnoy said about Jones on the debut of FS1’s “Wake Up Barstool” on Tuesday. “I don’t care if you think you’re smarter than me. It’s my team. I bought the team. It’s my money. I’m going to call the plays. All I ask from my owner is that he cares truly about winning as much as I do, and there’s no way he doesn’t. … They have him in the Netflix documentary, when they lost to the Green Bay Packers in the 2023 NFC wild-card round, and he’s tearing like a napkin. You can see his insides being eaten. That’s all I want from an owner.

“Now, has he been a good GM, has he made mistakes? Absolutely, all those things are true, but it’s his team. He put the money up. He runs it. His whole life is the Cowboys. He’s not one of these distant owners. If I was a Cowboy fan, I can take the losing because I know that guy cares as much as I do.”

The now-82-year-old Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989, with the franchise winning three Super Bowls in the early portion of his reign (1992, 1993 and 1995 NFL seasons). A recent Neflix documentary, “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys,” dove into that successful era for Jones and the Cowboys.

With that said, the Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC Championship Game since the 1995 season and have made the playoffs just 10 times in the 21st century.

Jones is under heavy scrutiny for trading superstar defensive end Micah Parsons to the Packers last week after the two sides failed to bridge a gap in extension talks. The trade saw the Cowboys receive defensive tackle and three-time Pro Bowler Kenny Clark and two future first-round draft picks, with Parsons subsequently signing a four-year, $186 million extension with the Packers. Dallas is coming off a 7-10 season that saw it miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

As for “Wake Up Barstool,” the show is in its debut week on FS1. Meanwhile, Portnoy – who also expressed that he’d be “one of the great offensive minds in the history of the game” if given the chance to be a playcaller – will be a staple on FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff” in the 2025 college football season. Last week, Portnoy, a Michigan alum, made a loud entrance to the set at Ohio State, which went on to beat Texas, 14-7.

Next week, Portnoy and the “Big Noon Kickoff” crew will be in Ames, Iowa, as No. 22 Iowa State hosts in-state rival Iowa (Sept. 6 at 12 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). The Cyclones won last season’s matchup in Iowa City, 20-19. Granted, the Hawkeyes have won seven of the last nine meetings.

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