IRVING, Texas – The coaching matchup for the 2016 Senior Bowl, held Jan. 30 in Mobile, Ala., has been confirmed.
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones revealed on Wednesday night that the Cowboys coaching staff would work one sideline of the game this year. On Thursday, Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage confirmed in a radio interview that the Jacksonville Jaguars will coach the other, and an official announcement also was made on the Senior Bowl's Twitter account.
The Cowboys will coach the North team and the Jaguars with coach the South team. The Senior Bowl will announce the rosters on Friday, Jan. 22.
This will actually be the third straight year the Jaguars have coached in the Senior Bowl. Under head coach Gus Bradley, they finished with a 5-11 record this year and hold the No. 5 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
The Senior Bowl features some of the best senior players and NFL draft prospects. Cowboys officials always attend the invitational all-star game in person, but this year, Garrett and his staff will have more one-on-one interaction with the prospects.
"You're there for a week with the players, so you see them in a pro football environment," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said Monday. "We would meet in practice like we would here, so you get a chance to see them up close and spend the days with them both in the meetings and on the practice field and obviously see how they respond to our system of football and how we want to coach. And then you get a chance to coach them in the ballgame. So it's really the best up-close and personal look that you get of these players through the whole draft process."
The two NFL staffs who coach the Senior Bowl teams are determined in cooperation with the league. According to the official Senior Bowl website, "the teams with the lowest winning percentage that season usually get the first opportunity to coach in the game, but only if a majority of their staff - and head coach - are intact."
The Cowboys, who finished the 2015 season with a 4-12 record, fit that criteria. Garrett will enter his sixth full season as head coach in 2016, and he said Monday he doesn't anticipate many changes to his staff.
Senior Bowl week runs Tuesday, Jan. 26 through Thursday, Jan. 28 with the game scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (Central) Saturday, Jan. 30 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
The 2016 NFL Draft is April 28-30. The Cowboys have the fourth overall pick in the first round.
