MOBILE, Ala. – It's been six days since the Cowboys hired former Eagles DBs coach/pass game coordinator Christian Parker as their new defensive coordinator.
Parker, 34, was one of nine candidates that interviewed for the position. He'd spent just seven years in the NFL before taking his first coordinator job, becoming the youngest defensive coordinator in Dallas' franchise history.
So, how did Parker impress the Cowboys' decision makers to earn the job?
"Number one, everybody you talk to, nobody said anything negative about him," Cowboys VP of player personnel Will McClay said of Parker. "When we got the chance to meet and talk to him, he's wise beyond his years number one, but the way that the puts things together, the way he talks about the defense, his awareness of the front and the back end, excited to work with him and the staff that he's going to put together because I think there's some exciting things that we can do... He's going to put us up front on the defensive side."
For Cowboys COO/co-owner Stephen Jones, one of the biggest boxes that Parker checked was his ability as a teacher, as his explanations of complex ideas and concepts were understandable for everyone in the interview process.
"Very, very smart," Jones said of Parker. "Great communicator, which at the end of the day, one of our top priorities is to be a great teacher. These defenses are very complicated… he was really good at explaining it not only to coach Schottenheimer and to Will, but to Jerry and myself that you want to make complicated things seem easy… he was just outstanding."
It wasn't just Parker's plan for the secondary that made the Cowboys convinced he was the guy for the job. It had to do with his entire plan for the defense, including marrying his vision for what the front seven will look like to help compliment the back end of the unit.
The coordinator Parker has spent the most time with is Eagles DC Vic Fangio, someone the Cowboys organization holds in high regard and has interviewed for positions on their staff in the past. Another selling point that worked for Parker was his plan for incorporating some elements of the Fangio defense, while also putting his own spin on things.
"Christian walked through some things that if it were his to do, he'd do a little different. And we really liked some of those wrinkles he'll bring as well," Jones said. "Obviously Vic's one of the great defensive minds in this league, nothing but respect, but [Parker's] learned a lot from him, learned a lot from other coordinators that he's worked under, and just feel like he's going to do a great job for us."
According to Jones, Parker's vision for what he wanted Dallas' defense to look like equaled what head coach Brian Schottenheimer was searching for to compliment the offense and the team as a whole.
"Start with coach Schottenheimer has a vision for the type of defense he wanted to have that compliments what we do on offense," Jones said. "At the end of the day, it was Christian's vision. Not only for the type of defense he wants to play in terms of the personality it's going to have and the type of culture he wants to create over on that side of the ball, but also the wrinkles that he could bring that really would fit the pieces that we have in place."
Patrick Surtain, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean are just some of the young defensive backs and Parker has taken under his wing in his NFL career. In the process, Parker explained he feels he can do the same for some of the core young pieces that Dallas has on the roster.
"He's talked about some of the young guys. He did talk about [Shavon] Revel and the ability of what he sees, some of the things that he can help him with," McClay said. "Young players and making them better, the guys in the secondary, [DaRon] Bland and our safeties, and so he's got a vision for those guys…"
"When you develop Patrick Surtain and [Quinyon] Mitchell and [Cooper] DeJean, and they've all been under his kind of tutelage, it gives us good hope in knowing that he's a hell of a football coach and he'll improve that part, as well as the whole defense." McClay said.
One aspect of the hire that both Jones and McClay raved about was Brian Schottenheimer's extensive process while searching for a new defensive coordinator. It wasn't just the number of candidates Dallas interviewed, but the depth of research that went into finding and vetting them.
"It was very thorough. Hat's off to coach Schottenheimer in putting a great group together," Jones said. "I mean, we got to really visit with a lot of top defensive [coaches] around the league and learned a lot about defense, a lot of different systems… at the end of the day, we just felt like Christian was a good fit… Christian really made the most sense for us, what we're wanting to do."
For McClay, the aspect of being deeply involved in the interview process was a big plus.
"The exhaustive search that Schotty's done and all of us having a piece in it, much like we do during the process with players. We're going to go through the car wash and everybody's going to meet him and talk to him and get to know him," McClay said.
"We're going to sit around and talk about what we think. Just that whole process has been incredible to be able to go and dig and find out maybe stuff that you didn't know. The way that we went about it and finding that guy, as well as putting together the staff, it's an exhaustive process that I'm proud to be a part of because we've got some good guys."
Now, focus shifts to rounding out the remainder of Parker's staff. According to Jones, in-person interviews with position coaches could begin as early as Wednesday, and the goal is to have the staff finalized by the weekend, although there may be some trickles over into next week.
