As Jason Garrett 'Packs Up His Office,' Cowboys Will Interview Mike McCarthy

Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett won't be sitting for long as he 'packs up his office' in preparation for the team to interview potential replacement Mike McCarthy on Saturday.

FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys are in the process of conducting head-coach interviews even as Jason Garrett officially remains employed in that capacity, the in-person and for-attribution search beginning with a Saturday visit from former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy.

This move does not cement McCarthy into a new job at The Star—but it does make clear that Jason Garrett's "Long Goodbye'' is about over.

Clarity has been hard to come by this week, with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones surely having a difficult time emotionally parting with Garrett, his coach of 10 years. But now it's happening—and as colleague Bryan Broaddus suggests, it quite likely means Garrett's office is literally being cleaned out so candidates to replace him can freely tour the facility. (The in-limbo assistants, many of them having grown frustrated with the process, are still here, however.)

McCarthy most recently spent 13 seasons as the head coach of the Packers, where he, along with superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers, helped lead Green Bay to a 125-77-2 regular-season record, and a Super Bowl XLV win in the 2010-11 season.

McCarthy also held a 10-8 postseason record and made the playoffs in nine of his 13 seasons as head coach, including eight-straight appearances.

After a year out of football, McCarthy has now conducted multiple interviews around the NFL, including a reported pair of visits with the Carolina Panthers.

A high-placed Cowboys source tells me the McCarthy interview is not being conducted only for the purpose of "picking his brain," and that's he's viewed as a legitimate candidate to replace Garrett. But remember the numerous mentions in this space of a "high and wide net" being used in the search; interviewing McCarthy doesn't have to be the end of the Joneses meetings with coaches not named "Garrett.'' It might only be the beginning.