Culture Shock: Cowboys' Rob Davis On His Job Description And 'The Most Important Room in the Building'

From Inside The Star, We Visit With Cowboys Top Aide Rob Davis On His Job Description And Prioritizing 'The Most Important Room in the Building'

FRISCO - We would be fibbing to say that as we were studying and writing about the weekend revelation that Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is hiring a man named Rob Davis as his "assistant head coach,'' we wondered if something had been lost in translation.

The Cowboys have hired former Packers director of player development Rob Davis to a newly-created post of "assistant head coach'' under Mike McCarthy https://t.co/A4r8emJbQs

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 26, 2020

"Assistant head coach'' as a title for someone, no matter McCarthy's friendship and respect for the long-time Packers employee, who has never coached before? Maybe they mean "assistant to the head coach''?

So on Monday here inside The Star we simply asked Davis, who has never actually coached before: What exactly is your job description?

"It's pretty fluid right now,'' Davis told us. "Mike and I have a long history and relationship. I played for him (for a decade as the Green Bay long-snapper), worked with him, volunteer-coached at St. Norbert's College. But I've been a life coach for long time. Most of my post-career has been around the life-coaching space, trying to develop high-performance teams and develop young men into being better men and better players.''

It occurred to us that Davis almost sounds like a McCarthy lieutenant and maybe a liaison into the locker room. And indeed, he told us that he will be connected to the leaders in the Cowboys' player programs department (Bryan Wansley), the executive wing (Todd Williams, COO Stephen Jones' right-hand man) and the scouting department (Will McClay).

"All-encompassing,' Davis said of his role, adding, "The locker room is the most important room in the building. No disrespect to any other offices, but Mike wants to make sure the locker room is operating at a high level.''

In short, while Davis played in the NFL for a decade and while Davis' title in Green Bay was about "personnel,'' he's not as much a scout as he is a "life coach in charge of culture.''

"You can have 'strategy,'' he said. "But as (legendary business consultant) Peter Drucker once talked about, 'Culture eats strategy for breakfast.' We're looking to bring all the pieces together. (McCarthy) put a great staff together. We know the foundation is here with the players. 

It's rich in history and tradition. So we''re looking forward to doing the best we can to bring a championship here.''

How can Davis best help Dallas achieve that goal? Maybe with the sort of coaching that doesn't include a clipboard and a whistle.