Contract dispute nixes Reeves’ return to Cowboys

If Dallas owner Jerry Jones had never phoned Dan Reeves two weeks ago with a job offer, the Falcons’ former coach would be San Francisco’s offensive coordinator today. Instead, Reeves now has neither job.

Reeves said Thursday he left the 49ers job on the table for a chance to return to Dallas, where he played and coached for 16 years. But his potential role as adviser to Jones and coach Wade Phillips ended Wednesday when the two sides surprisingly could not come to terms on a contract.

Reeves has been out coaching since being fired by the Falcons in 2003. But he was in San Francisco interviewing with coach Mike Singletary to be his offensive coordinator, and was offered the job Jan. 24, when he suddenly received a phone call from Jones.

Reeves, who also has two daughters living in Dallas and a son-in-law, Joe DeCamillis, on the Cowboys staff, put the Niners’ offer on hold.

“I told Mike I would give him an answer on Monday at noon,” Reeves said Thursday. “I flew back to Atlanta Saturday night and then I went to Dallas the next day.”

When Jones offered him the role as adviser, Reeves phoned Singletary to turn down the San Francisco job.

“They say hindsight’s 20-20,” he said. “I guess I can say now I should’ve taken the job out there. But for family reasons Dallas was a better opportunity.”

Reeves said he and Jones reached a verbal agreement on a contract Tuesday and he had been “watching film with their coaches for 2 1/2 days. But he said when Jones actually slid a contract across the desk to him, “There were some things in there that we hadn’t talked about.”

Reeves, a former player and assistant coach with the Cowboys, wouldn’t disclose what language in the contract he objected to, saying only: “The deal was basically done. Then I got the new contract and there were things in there I felt I couldn’t live with. I talked to Jerry at noon [Wednesday]. He felt those things were important to him but I felt they were important to me. In the end, we thought it was best to move on.”

Asked again of the breakdown, Reeves said, “It’s so trivial that if I tell you, people will say, ‘That’s ridiculous. Why couldn’t you just sign the contract?’ But if it’s that important to me and him, maybe it’s not ridiculous.”