Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is making two training-camp schedules, learning from a past mistake

Tribune Content Agency

The Cowboys have no idea at this stage if they’ll be able to conduct training camp in Southern California.

That’s why head coach Mike McCarthy is putting together two schedules: One for Oxnard and another for the possibility that the team will stage camp at The Star. He won’t be left in the lurch like he was nine years ago after Green Bay won the Super Bowl.

A labor dispute resulted in a five-month lockout that year that wiped out the offseason program, one that wasn’t resolved until late July.

“There were a number of times throughout that spring that it was like, ‘OK, hey, it’s going to happen. It’s going to end here,”‘ McCarthy said. “So we were running around getting ready for the offseason program. Then it was going to happen again and now you’re getting ready for a mini-camp.

“A lot of that time and energy and planning went to waste because obviously the lockout didn’t end until July.”

McCarthy likes to say he learns from his mistakes. That was one of them. He’s going about this offseason differently.

“We’re going to start training camp and look back to the offseason,” McCarthy said. “That’s why we’ve done some heavy planning on first, if we’re able to go to Oxnard. Then, if we’re unable to go to Oxnard, what it’s going to look like if it’s in Frisco.

“That’s been the starting point as far as our pre-planning.”

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