Biggest reason Cowboys fans shouldn't get their hopes up on dream HC candidate

The Dallas Cowboys' inexplicably long staring contest with Mike McCarthy finally came to an end on Monday, when word broke that the team hadn't even gotten to the negotiating table with its head coach on a new contract. Jerry Jones wasn't willing to go above and beyond to keep McCarthy around, and McCarthy wasn't willing to cave, and so now both sides are moving on.

In a vacuum, that's probably for the best for the Cowboys in the long run. In reality, though, Jones handled the transition about as awkwardly as possible, putting his team behind the 8-ball as it now looks for a replacement in the coaching carousel. Many of the top candidates have either already signed or are already deep into the interview process, and it's hard to imagine they'd have a lot of interest in working with an owner who just left his former coach twisting in the wind for more than a week.

But despite all of Dallas' dysfunction, this remains a sought-after job, one capable of drawing interest from some of the biggest names in the sport. Two names in particular: Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, each of whom have at least signaled some interest in recent days. Jones may have botched this process in four different ways, but a home-run hire is still within reach.

There's just one problem: Jerry Jones remains Jerry Jones, and the same stubbornness that ran McCarthy out of town likely means that Dallas' dream hire is already dead.

Jerry Jones' penny-pinching means Cowboys' Bill Belichick dream is already DOA

Both Sanders and Belichick are currently employed elsewhere, and as such the Cowboys would need to fork over a buyout to pry either of them away. You might think that one of the richest franchises on planet Earth would have no problem chipping in a few extra millions to get its man, but, well, clearly you're not familiar with Jones' work.

Jones and his team may have more money than God, but that doesn't mean he's comfortable spending it, especially when doing so could mean creating a perception that he wound up on the losing end of a negotiation. We saw this rear its head in the McCarthy saga; some part of Jones was clearly considering bringing him back — if it weren't, he would've cut bait weeks ago — but he was only willing to do it on his terms, with a contract offer that was nothing less than a slap in the face.

And sure enough, it seems like Jones won't be willing to do what it takes to land Sanders or Belichick even if they were ready to jump to Dallas.

Fundamentally, Jones still believes that he's the thing that makes the Cowboys go, and that any head coaching candidate, even one was decorated as the six-time Super Bowl champion Belichick, shouldn't be bigger than the organization. The money isn't the actual issue here; the principle is. Of course, Dallas now has years of playoff futility disagreeing with that notion, but old habits die hard.

Maybe Jones can pull off a miracle and land someone like Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. But right now, it's tough to imagine how anything's going to change in Dallas.