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Thursday, April 3, 1997

Jones creates department to improve Cowboys' behavior

By Bart Hubbuch

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - Nearly three years of off-the-field problems have prompted dramatic action from the Dallas Cowboys.

In his first significant response to the spate of player arrests and suspensions, Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones has announced the creation of a department devoted to improving player behavior.

The wide-ranging plan, devised by new consultants Calvin and Janet Hill, calls for the hiring of at least four managers and more than 10 staff members. It also includes an alumni advisory board and an orientation program for rookies and other newcomers.

Department managers will be hired in areas of security, player development and assistance, psychology and spirituality, Jones said Wednesday. The supervisors will be in place by September, he said.

"The fans of the Cowboys deserve this type of intense commitment to good behavior," Jones said.

It is a "multimillion-dollar commitment over a number of years" and one Jones says he envisions will become a model for the league.

"He's taken that function to the next level," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Wednesday. "A lot of clubs have one or two people charged with player programs and player behavior, but nothing like this."

Reluctance to go along with the program could result in players eventually being cut, traded or not having their contracts extended, Jones said.

His plan follows a rash of off-the-field incidents over two and a half years that have tarnished the franchise's reputation worldwide.

From October 1995 to November 1996, the Cowboys had five players suspended by the National Football League a total of seven times for alcohol or substance abuse, including All-Pro wide receiver Michael Irvin and defensive standout Leon Lett.

"We have a very keen sensitivity and feeling about where we've been regarding our on- and off-the-field behavior," Jones said.

Enter Calvin Hill, the former Cowboys' running back and father of NBA star Grant Hill, who agreed along with his wife to consult for the team after weeks of negotiation with Jones.

Hill, a Yale graduate who played for Dallas from 1969 to 1974, devised the plan for the Cowboys based on drug programs he helped formulate for the NFL's defunct Cleveland Browns and the Rand Corp.

In addition to the creation of a player-behavior wing, Hill suggested an advisory board of former Cowboys to help counsel players. Among the potential ex-Cowboys mentioned by Hill were Roger Staubach, Pettis Norman and Jethro Pugh.

Reached this week, Staubach said he had not been told of such a board but would consider joining it.

Jones, meanwhile, vowed his push for better behavior by the Cowboys will receive as much - if not more - attention from the club as marketing, public relations and stadium operations. But he stopped short of calling it a get-tough policy, thanks in part to a stifling NFL salary cap that makes the sudden release of players financially difficult.

"It's a get-smart policy," he said.

Future off-the-field incidents will be dealt with on an individual basis, Jones said. Players in trouble might not be cut or traded right away, but there probably will be unspecified repercussions.

"If we see people that can't recognize the value of this, that'll impact my decision on whether they stay on the football team or not," he said. "But the system we operate under (within the NFL) doesn't necessarily allow a philosophy of 'Step over the line and you're out of here.' The answer is not the chopping block."

Jones said he intends to prevent problems before they start by putting rookies and free agents through a pre-season orientation process. An NFL spokesman said the league also is implementing a rookie orientation this summer, much of it modeled after one used by the NBA.

"An additional orientation program of our own is necessary because there's a different standard if you're a Cowboy," Hill said. "There are a lot of unique requirements to wearing the star."

The Cowboys have made efforts to control player behavior before, both in the Tom Landry-Tex Schramm era and since Jones took over the franchise in 1989. Former FBI Agent Larry Wansley was the club's security director from 1983 to 1990, and the team briefly employed player development directors under Jones.

But the Cowboys never have attempted anything of this scope - nor has anyone else in the NFL.

"The resources, time and emphasis won't be spared by this organization," Jones said. "This is a big commitment, a long-term commitment."

Jones said he settled on the Hills after a nationwide search. Hill said he will commute frequently from his home in Great Falls, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C., to monitor the program and give ideas.

Hill wouldn't say how long he will stay with the Cowboys, but his commitment is believed to span more than a year.

"It's long enough to put things in place," he said. "We're going to take a look at the entire organization, come up with a set of standards and develop a model for being the best we can be, both on and off the field.

"This is an arm's-length relationship. I'm not within the command chain, and I'm not reporting to any particular person."

As improbable as it seems in light of the Cowboys' recent past, Jones said his goal is that the Cowboys' approach to behavior become a model for the rest of the league and pro sports overall.

"This isn't just about reacting to the incidents of last year," he said. "This is about stepping out and doing something that is a real example, a positive example."

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

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