Coach Profile

A five-year member of the Cowboys' coaching staff, Jeffcoat has spent the last three seasons as the defensive ends coach after two years as the club's assistant defensive line coach. Hired as an assistant in 1998, Jeffcoat often calls upon his 15 years of NFL playing experience to help tutor the Cowboys who now follow in his footsteps as one of the franchise's most productive and consistent defensive ends.

Jeffcoat's 2002 line helped Dallas limit opponents to a 3.8 yards-per-carry average on the ground and helped force 19 interceptions with their pass rush. The leader of this unit was five-year veteran Greg Ellis, who led the team with a career-high tying 7.5 sacks and led all linemen with a career-high 87 tackles. It was the third straight season Ellis had increased his single-season tackle total. He also added a team and career-high 30 quarterback pressures.

In 2001, the Dallas defense made a tremendous turnaround from the previous year, allowing 1,710 rushing yards, a figure that was 927 fewer yards than the club allowed in 2000. Those numbers represented the largest turnaround by any defensive unit in the NFL in 2001. Ellis led Dallas in sacks (six), quarterback pressures (26) and forced fumbles (four). He also led all defensive linemen in tackles with a then career-high 83. After Ebenezer Ekuban was felled with a season ending back injury in Week One, Jeffcoat tutored his replacement, Peppi Zellner, to a fine season. Zellner finished second on the team in pressures (22) and fourth in sacks (3.5).

In Jeffcoat's first year overseeing the defensive ends, his unit accounted for 16.5 of Dallas' 25 sacks, with second-year end Ekuban leading the way with 6.5. Ellis posted 77 tackles to lead all linemen. Under Jeffcoat's guidance, both players overcame adversity with character and persistence. Ekuban handled the responsibility of starting at an early stage in his career while fighting through injuries, while Ellis was forced to battle back from a severely fractured leg that brought an abrupt end to his 1999 season.

In 1998 and 1999, Jeffcoat worked rookie defensive linemen Ellis (1998) and Ekuban (1999) into the lineup. Ellis became the first Cowboys' rookie to start a season at defensive end since Bob Lilly in 1961. Ellis would go on to lead all defensive linemen with 63 tackles as a rookie, leading four Dallas defensive linemen that finished with more than 50 tackles. It marked the first time since 1990 that four lineman had recorded over 50 tackles in a season. The next season, Jeffcoat helped guide Chad Hennings (92 tackles) and Kavika Pittman (74 tackles) to career-high tackle totals. That season Ellis led the team with 7.5 sacks, and Pittman finished second on the team with 10 passes defensed, the highest total for a Cowboys lineman since Ed "Too Tall" Jones batted down 14 in 1988.

Jeffcoat joined the coaching ranks after finishing his playing career with 102.5 career sacks, 745 tackles and 194 quarterback pressures. Jeffcoat played in 227 games from 1983 to 1997, placing him among the top 40 players all-time in number of games played. He spent the first 12 years of his career with Dallas after being selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft, and he was a member of the Cowboys' teams that won Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII. Jeffcoat has played for or coached with all six head coaches in Cowboys history.

During his 12-year stint with the Cowboys, Jeffcoat totaled 698 tackles, 94.5 sacks and 149 quarterback pressures. His best season in Dallas was 1989, when he finished with a career-high 100 tackles, a career-high 42 quarterback pressures, 11.5 sacks and a career-high three fumble recoveries. He registered five seasons with 70-or-more tackles and five seasons with 10-or-more sacks in Dallas. He tied the Cowboys team record for sacks in a game when he registered five sacks at Washington on Nov. 10, 1985. Jeffcoat played his final three seasons with the Buffalo Bills.

Jeffcoat was a three-year starter at Arizona State University from 1980-82, where he earned All-PAC 10 and honorable mention All-America honors. He was inducted into the Arizona State Hall of Fame on Oct. 22, 1994 after being named to the all-time Fiesta Bowl team in 1991. Jeffcoat earned All-America football honors at Matawan, N.J., Regional High School while also lettering in wrestling.

Jeffcoat was awarded the New Jersey Sportswriter's Association Unsung Hero Award for his community service in 1991. At the Cowboys' 2000 training camp, Jeffcoat and his defensive players participated in the club's tackling hunger "Lineman Weigh-In" sponsored by Campbell Soup, donating a total of 21,064 cans of soup to The Salvation Army Irving Corps and Faith Mission Food Bank in Wichita Falls, Texas. He earned his bachelor's degree in communications and his masters in business administration from ASU. He and wife Tammy have four children: Jaren (10/1/87), twins, Jackson and Jacqueline (12/26/90), and Jasmine (2/15/99).