Cowboys Camp: Coach Tomsula Reveals Near-Fist Fight With D-Linemen

Dallas Cowboys Camp: Straight-Talking Assistant Coach Jim Tomsula Reveals A Near-Fist Fight With His D-Linemen

FRISCO - Who is Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Jim Tomsula?

"I'm Jim, Julie's husband, Brittany and Brooke's dad, Joe and Jim's son, card-carrying Catholic kid, guy who will tell you when you need to clean something off your nose,'' Tomsula said to the DFW media in a Saturday presser. "What do I do? I coach football.''

And when he says, "I'll tell you when you need to clean something off your nose,'' what the much-traveled NFL veteran coach is trying to say is, he tells it like it is. Straight talk. Do it right.

Or he might have to fight you on it.

“These guys work,” Tomsula said of the D-linemen he's in charge of under new head coach Mike McCarthy. “I’m getting into arguments with (Tyrone) Crawford out there. I’m trying to get him off the field and get some substitution, get him a break in some drills.

"We (almost were) going to get into a fight,'' Tomsula revealed about a recent training-camp conflict here at The Star, "because he doesn’t want to come off the field.''

But, Jim ... Cowboys owner Jerry Jones just made it clear that bar-brawlin' Crawford "is a bad boy.'' You sure you want that?

READ MORE: Bar Brawl! Tyrone Crawford 'Is A Bad Boy,' Compliments Jerry

"Hey, I didn't say I'd win,'' Tomsula responded, not especially smiling. "But I'd give him a go."

Tomsula, 51, comes from a hard-scrabble background. His great-grandfather, a Hungarian immigrant, died in a Pennsylvania coal-mining accident. So it given familial struggles, it wasn't a burden to Jim when, once upon a time, he worked as a volunteer coach and lived in his car, along with his dog, his cat - and a litter box.)

Julie, Britney and Brooke are all involved in careers to help people, led by the efforts of his family (which also includes 12-year-old son Bear) in staging camps for kids dealing with Down syndrome.

Tomsula is a "giver,'' too - he just can't give all these guys all the reps.

"They’re all that way,'' he said of Crawford's highly-credentialed D-line mates. "I got guys over there fighting to get on the field; they want every rep.”

DeMarcus Lawrence, Aldon Smith and Everson Griffen have all earned the right to have a voice. Tomsula has praise for each, and for once-struggling sophomore Trysten Hill, too.

*On Hill: “I’ve been tickled to death with Trysten and how hard he’s working, mentally and physically…the questions, phone calls, texts, swinging by the office at night. “Really excited for that guy.”

*On Lawrence: "Fantastic. The work ethic and all that kind of stuff is there. Obviously did a lot of work on him when he was coming out of college. The kind of guy he is really ... Not afraid to try new things with DeMarcus just jumping in there and just pushing the envelope on different techniques, different things and seeing what's comfortable, not comfortable and things like that.''

*On Griffen: "The approach here I'm finding with the Cowboys is you don't just sign a piece of paper and jump on the field. They like to take you through the process and make sure you are physically and mentally sharp so that when you do put that helmet on that you're ready to go. ... You look at Everson's tape over the years. His motor jumps out at you off the screen.''

*On Smith: "Who is Aldon? Aldon is a good friend, a good person, that's who he is. What's he do? He plays football. I know the person and ... love the person. In terms of (him) a football player, I kind of like that, too.''

Jim Tomsula is what they call back in Pittsburgh "a ball guy.'' He loves his guys. ... unless they try to fight him. In which case, Tomsula will be obliged to "tell them when they need to clean something off their nose.''