Well, 20 years later, Jones has not only kept to his word but he has made himself the face and lone voice of the franchise.

Following what was the most disappointing and underachieving season of his tenure and mired in one of the most negative offseasons he can remember, Jones has issued a gag order for coaches and all front-office personnel.

Jones is frustrated over what he called negative and erroneous media reports during the offseason, attributed to sources within the organization.

"You can't get the full picture unless you visit with me," Jones said. "Where I'm coming from here, I just want to make sure you're not getting bits and pieces of information. That's not doing anybody any good, and you're not making accurate reports."

Jones was particularly miffed about reports that have him his son, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones, at odds over whether they keep or cut controversial receiver Terrell Owens.

Jones has consistently refused to acknowledge that Owens' future was in question this offseason.

Dan Reeves, who worked as a consultant with the Cowboys for three days before he and Jones parted ways, acknowledged there were some internal disagreements over Owens.

Jones, however, and Stephen Jones have never acknowledged such. Jones intimated last week that Owens wasn't going anywhere.

And he reiterated that position at the NFL Scouting Combine with the statement, "You caught my drift" when asked about Owens.

He still has not come out and said that Owens will be back. But as he said last week, if he was going to cut Owens, it probably would have already been done.

And there is a perception that Jones' gag order further diminishes the power and image of head coach Wade Phillips.

But Jones, who celebrated his 20th anniversary as owner of the Cowboys on Feb. 26, said nothing has changed as far who makes the decisions in Dallas. He said the same decision-making process exists now with Phillips that existed when Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells coached the Cowboys.

"It's well known that relative to our personnel decisions, who makes that decision," said Jones. "All I'm trying to say is, basically, that's where you need to go to see where the status of that decision is. That's where you need to go. That's what we're trying to avoid. What's happened this offseason, there's been a lot of misinformation."

Jones said the thought that the Cowboys had problems last season because of chemistry issues and a divided locker room are off base.

When asked why, he said, "I think it's principally because I've experienced locker rooms that look dysfunctional on the face of it and (have) won world championships, OK?"