Michael Vernon McCoy (September 10, 1948 – October 17, 2021) was an American businessman. As a minority owner and vice-president of the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), he was credited with inventing the trade-value draft chart. He also worked in the oil and gas industry.
In 1981, he and a business partner, future Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, co-founded Arkoma Production Company, which was active in gas-rich areas such as northwest Arkansas and was able to profit from more than 500 of some 2000 wells they had drilled.[2]
In 1986, McCoy and Jones sold the company to Arkla, a natural gas company, for $175 million.[2][3] They were accused of having unjustly enriched themselves in the sale,[4] but were eventually exonerated in court.[5]
Career in sports management
When Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys in February 1989, McCoy became a minority owner with a 5% stake in the NFL franchise.[6][7] He was named Vice-President of the football club one year later.[8]
In the run up to the 1991 NFL draft, Jones and head coachJimmy Johnson wanted to come up with a system to help them evaluate NFL draft trades quickly. McCoy put together a trade-value draft chart that assigned values to each draft pick and a numeric total for each deal. He did this by examining trades from the past decade and giving each one a point value.[9]
With the success of the Cowboys during the 1990s and the departure of key personnel such as Dave Wannstedt and Norv Turner,[10] the trade-value draft chart gained prominence in the NFL and every team now employs a version of it.[11][12] In spite of draft chart being the brainchild of McCoy, it is referred to as the "Jimmy Johnson Chart".[13] Five years after formulating it, McCoy left the Cowboys to return to the oil and gas industry.[1]
Personal life
McCoy was married to Joni for 30 years until his death. He had four children: Jeff, Kim, Madison, and Matthew.[1][12] On October 17, 2021, he died in Dallas, Texas, one month after his 73rd birthday.[1][12]