Tony Romo Would Be Crazy to Even Consider Coaching a Team
By Kyle Koster
Tony Romo’s predictive powers struck again in the AFC Championship Game. The second-year announcer had arguably the best outing of his young broadcasting career while on the biggest stage. He’ll be on display once again in the Super Bowl. Spoiler alert: he’ll be good. Very good.
Romo is the unicorn. An ex-quarterback who parachuted in with no experience behind the microphone and became an instant success. CBS struck gold. Remember, at the same time, Fox was pursuing Jay Cutler and ESPN has since brought in Jason Witten. One of those guys is not in any booth and the other was the object of much consternation during his rookie year.
Romos don’t grow on trees. He knows it. CBS knows it. Every other network knows it. This guy is the golden goose. That’s why he’s in line to get a big, fat pay raise on top of the $4 million/year his current deal affords.
Perhaps Romo, with his clairvoyance, could have seen the coaching rumors start to swirl. He addressed the idea that he’d step away from television to pursue coaching on Wednesday and sounded like a guy with a good grasp of the obvious.
“I’m really happy where I’m at,” the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback said. “I’m sure, at some point, 25 years from now, you’ll want to do something competitive in that regard … but I like where I’m at. I don’t think about that right now at all.”
Uh, yeah. This is the best job Romo will ever have. Sure, the workload is challenging in the fall. But there’s plenty of time during the rest of the year to play golf and pitch beer. The work-life balance rules. And it sure beats getting crushed by a blindside blitz or dealing with Jerry Jones-related drama.
Surely, Romo has had his fill of that previous life. What sane reason would there be for this guy to leave his cushy perch and enter the tenuous world of coaching, where the job security stinks? Practically, wouldn’t that make him less attractive as a broadcaster if he failed?
Also, and not to be the party pooper here, but there’s a little more that goes into the position than accurately predicting plays. If that was it, Romo could have been the defensive coordinator during his playing days.
Clearly, I’m preaching to the choir here and Romo knows which side of the booth his bread is buttered on. Let’s just relax and enjoy the rare color commentator who adds significantly to the game-watching experience and hope for a few decades of that to come.