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OXNARD, Calif. – During the three 5-11 seasons he endured as the Cowboys' head coach, Dave Campo never lost his sense of humor.

He still hasn't.

"The reception around Dallas has been great. I don't ever run into the guys with the bags over their heads," he said with a smile after Saturday morning's practice. "Maybe they're one and the same because I couldn't see them since they had bags over their heads.

"Sometimes, you're marked by the last thing you did, but what we did defensively in the past is why I made it through three head coaches and became a head coach. I think that's evident to a lot of people."

Campo will tell you he never stopped rooting for the Cowboys. When he does, you believe him.

That's because you know he loves this organization. Even the day Jerry fired him, Campo talked about how much he loved the franchise.

It's easy to understand his feelings.

Jimmy Johnson hired him as a defensive assistant and personal whipping boy in 1989. He moved steadily up the organization flow chart from untitled assistant to secondary coach to defensive coordinator to Chan Gailey's replacement at the end of the 1999 season.

In 2002, Jerry fired Campo, who was 15-33 as a head coach. He spent two seasons with Cleveland and the last three seasons with Jacksonville.

Now, he's back in the city he never wanted to leave and working for the franchise he adores.

"I said to Wade during the interview that if he didn't feel comfortable I would completely understand," Campo said. "I didn't want the job at any cost."

Jerry and Wade didn't add Campo to the coaching staff because they wanted a feel-good story. Campo has always been a quality secondary coach because of his attention to detail.

With him, it's all about technique and footwork, because he believes proper technique results in consistent performance.

"Campo was a tremendous acquisition for our team," Phillips said. "You can see the improvement in our secondary's fundamentals already. We have some superstar coaches on our staff, and he's one of them."

You can tell Campo is having fun based on the first three practices of training camp.

As a coordinator and head coach, he was too consumed with the big picture to spend considerable time with the secon- dary, the position he knows best.

Standing 20 yards behind the safeties, he praises or criticizes someone after every play. He's constantly talking, whether he's barking out a scheme, an adjustment someone should've made on their own or reminding the defense to check the sideline for the down and distance.

No detail is too small.

"Position coach or head coach, it doesn't matter," said Flozell Adams, one of only four players still with the team from the Campo era.

"I still hear his voice during and after every play just like I did when he was the head coach."

When Jerry approached Campo about returning to the Cowboys at the Senior Bowl, Campo said he'd love the opportunity as long as Wade wanted him. Trust me, it takes a special person to return as the secondary coach to the team where he had the prime parking spot and the biggest office.

Former Kansas City coach Gunther Cunningham is the only person in recent memory to return as an assistant to the same team that fired him. Campo said he never considered talking with Cunningham about handling the dynamics.

"Winning and losing is the only thing I think about," Campo said. "When I was the defensive coordinator, I was mad when we lost. When I was the head coach, I was mad when we lost. It didn't matter if I was the defensive assistant, if we won I was happy."

"I'm a Cowboy. I was a Cowboy. And I'm always going to be a Cowboy."

That's why he's back on the staff.