Saints coach Sean Payton is headed to Dallas after all.
As Florio hinted at this morning, Payton and his family are indeed buying a home in Dallas, according to a report from ESPN’s Ed Werder. Payton will maintain a residence in New Orleans, but his kids will enroll in school in Texas.
Werder writes that Payton considered a similar arrangement when he took the Saints job, but owner Tom Benson didn’t allow it. Three playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title later, Payton worked it out.
Mike Triplette of the New Orleans Times-Picayune writes that Payton won’t commute every day, while Payton estimated to Werder that he can go from Dallas-to-New Orleans in 90 minutes door-to-door with help of a private plane.
It seems likely that Payton would stay in New Orleans most of the time during the regular season, with trips home on Friday evening like Tony Dungy or Bill Cowher once did in their previous coaching stints.
Commuting from Dallas probably won’t hurt Payton’s ability to do his job, but it does make us wonder about Payton.
Choosing to live on the same golf course as the Jonas Brothers in Dallas over staying in New Orleans is a sign of bad taste.