After serving as the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach last year, Jon Kitna was named the head football coach and athletic coordinator at Burleson High School last week. I had a chance to catch up with Kitna over the phone Monday afternoon to discuss his time in Dallas and his journey moving forward
This conversation has been edited and condensed in the interest of clarity.
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How do you reflect on the experience of coaching your first year in the NFL now that you’ve had some time away and moved on to another football journey?
First of all, with the Cowboys: Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and that whole organization is top-notch. The way that they do things, treat people and value different opinions, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
And then working under Jason (Garrett), who really has been a mentor of mine in my coaching journey already for the last seven or eight years, now I got to actually be with him every day. I grew a lot, I felt like I had a lot to add, had a lot to give and I received a lot.
You talked about your relationship with Jason. What was it like to be along with him for that season given the way it went? What kind of person was he behind closed doors?
When you ask what kind of person he is, he’s authentic. He’s a leader, stands up in the toughest times and cares for his coaches and players – like, truly cares for his coaches and players. The one thing that nobody ever said or talked about in the narrative for him was what a tough job that was last year in terms of knowing you’re in your last year, but he never shied away from it and then the personal tragedy that he never talked about that had happened in his family. I’m not going to get into specifics, but there were a lot of things that he was going through that he never talked about or used as an excuse. That’s not who he is. All he ever wanted was to see everybody do their best and trusted the people around him to do that. That does make it tough for people that have been in his circle to have to deal with him going through tough times. I know that people love him.
In what ways did you see Dak improve the most this past year?
That’s hard for me to answer because I wasn’t there before. I don’t know all of the conversations and stuff from before. All I can say is, watching this year, there were some things that I just don’t think a lot of people would be able to notice in terms of footwork and eye discipline, where your eyes are at, where I felt like he made huge growth in. Those were things that I remember, having that same kind of growth spurt in my career in Year 11 when I was with Coach (Mike) Martz in Detroit. Dak’s such a hard worker. His whole mindset is to try and be the best quarterback in the league. Every day, it was, “What are we working on today? What do we have today? How are you making me better today?” So it was fun to be a part of that. Really, it just became a mindset of having that home run hitter’s mindset of, “We’re looking for this, and if we get the right coverage, we’re going to take our shot and let it rip. If not, we’re going to be prudent and move through the reads.”
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Would you say he elevates the pieces around him more, or do the pieces around Dak elevate him?
Football is the greatest team sport there is. You have to have people around you. I think we went from mid-50s in sacks the year before to mid-20s in sacks this year. That’s a big product of the offensive line playing well, the running backs being a part of protections and Dak understanding protections and where the issues are, and then just playing fast and receivers getting open on time. I think it all goes hand in hand, but I think Dak is somebody that elevates everybody’s game around him not only with the way that he plays but the way that he leads 24/7. He embraces that leadership and, in my opinion, he’ll win multiple Super Bowls because of the leader he is paired with the talent he has.
Sometimes when you describe somebody as a good “leader,” some people see it as a cop-out to cover athletic deficiencies. How real is that “leadership” trait in a player, and especially in a quarterback?
Not everybody has it, I’ll say that. Not everybody has it. Some people are thrust into leadership roles because that’s what the position dictates, but not everybody has what Dak has. When you’re in a locker room, that one voice — because that locker room is filled with leaders. You’ve got Travis Frederick, Zack Martin, Tyron Smith, Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander-Esch, DeMarcus Lawrence and Zeke. I mean, that’s a locker room full of alpha leaders, but you’ve always got to have the one voice that, “Okay, once this guy says it…” That’s who Dak is. When you don’t have that as an NFL team, a lot of time it really can have a negative impact on your football program. The fact that they do have that, Dak has the voice of every person in that locker room, the ear of every person in that locker room. That’s a huge plus.
Blake Jarwin just signed an extension with the Cowboys. Do you see potential in him to be their starting tight end for the foreseeable future?
I think this gets thrown around a lot — “Sky is the limit.” But, truly, with him, the sky is the limit. I look at him in the same category — I don’t think he’s there yet but I think he has a chance to be — Zach Ertz and Travis Kelce. He’s just such a super freakish athlete. He’s going to be in the top-five jumpers and explosiveness in your program. He’s just a great kid that wants to learn. Having some time with Jason Witten did nothing but help him. That’s a good signing for both of them.
How do you watch the Dak and Amari free agency situations unfold?
It’s hard to comment on business stuff because business is business in the NFL, and that’s not the football side. But what a good problem to have if you’re the Cowboys, which is we’ve got a quarterback that needs to get paid top dollar instead of, “Man, we’ve got to pay a guy that we don’t think is very good, and we’ve got to pay him more than he’s worth.” It’s a great problem to have. The Cowboys know they’ve got a top quarterback in this league, and they’ve got to pay him that way. Now, it’s just hammering out the details, I would think.
It seems like less-than-ideal circ*mstances in which you’re taking this job as the head coach at Burleson. I understand you’re in spring break right now, but what’s your plan moving forward in which you won’t have your standard spring football time and all that comes with it?
Obviously, it’s new territory for all of us. It’s spring break, and regardless, I wanted my coaches and players to take the time to get themselves refreshed. Our school district has already made the decision to push ours out two more weeks so we’re not going back until April 6th, at the minimum. After this week, plan on getting with the coaches a little bit. That’s the biggest thing, getting them to understand our system and what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it. It’s all of the little things that matter, in my opinion. The on-the-field stuff, that’s going to come. It bothers you that you can’t get on the field with the kids and all of that stuff, but we just have to control what we can.
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We’re going to be behind — we’re already behind, with how late I got hired and all of that stuff, but those are things we can’t control. Once we get a chance to start practicing and build days with the kids, we’re going to be the best we can be. We’re going to be a little bit behind, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse.
Why go the high school coaching route instead of sticking in the NFL?
I think a lot of things. First of all, coaching professionally was never a huge dream or goal of mine, but I always knew that there were a couple of guys that would really cause me to think about it, and Jason Garrett was one of them, especially coaching for the Dallas Cowboys and having a situation of coaching Dak Prescott. All of those were great factors, but then not being retained with the Cowboys, you start looking at different things. I had some opportunities to stay in the professional game, but I’ve got a son that’s going to be a senior (in high school), and I’ve got another that’s going to be an eighth-grader. You only get this chance with your kids one time. On top of all of that, the athletic director they hired here in Burleson, Kevin Ozee, is one of the top athletic directors in the state of Texas and has done a great job wherever he’s been. It really just became an opportunity that, man, it was one of the best you can get, for me. That was really what went into it, and then researching Burleson and where they want to head and what they want to do, the philosophy and the superintendent and the high school principal, it just seemed like a perfect fit.
How exciting is it to work with your son, Jalen, who is going to be a senior quarterback and has already received interests from the likes of Florida, Tennessee, Boston College and other schools?
All of my sons have chosen to be quarterbacks. I didn’t push them or tell them it was something I wanted them to do or anything like that, so they’ve chosen that they want me to be the one who develops them. Jalen is a grinder, a four-star quarterback that’s still coming into his own. He’s added 30 pounds to his frame in the last 12 months and has gotten faster and more explosive. I’m excited to be back and coaching him again, but I was really coaching him all year. We watch film together; we do quarterback training all the time. I’m looking forward to seeing how good he can be. He set a goal that he wants to be the Gatorade Player of the Year, and so I’m going to try and help him reach that goal.
Photo by Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Saad Yousuf is a staff writer covering the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Stars. He also works at 96.7/1310 The Ticket in Dallas after five years at ESPN Dallas radio. Prior to The Athletic, Saad covered the Cowboys for WFAA, the Mavericks for Mavs.com and a variety of sports at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN.com and SB Nation. Follow Saad on Twitter @SaadYousuf126
