IRVING, Texas -- On Tuesday, Jon Kitna sent Jason Garrett a text message saying he was ready if the Dallas Cowboys coach needed him. By Tuesday night Kitna had a deal to join the Cowboys.Garrett's first reaction to the text message was, "Are you serious?""He said, 'Absolutely,'" Garrett said. "He was excited about it. He spoke to his family about it, and it just made sense to us."Kitna has been teaching math and coaching the football team at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Wash., since leaving the Cowboys following the 2011 season in part because of a herniated disk, the same injury that is troubling Tony Romo and required the Cowboys to sign a backup. Kyle Orton would start against the Philadelphia Eagles if Romo can't play.Garrett asked Kitna what kind of condition he was in and gave the quarterback a 30-minute window to make a decision. Kitna, 41, talked with his family and the decision was easy to make."I said, 'It's not like I have been sitting around trying to stay in shape hoping I get another shot. My career is done.' I was happy with that," Kitna said. "I just knew the situation that they were in. Being down here, I felt like I might be able to help in an emergency situation, just be able to, the functionality of running a play in the NFL. So I just felt like if he felt like it was worth a shot I would be willing to do it."That the Cowboys run the same offense with many of the same players that played with Kitna from 2009-11 -- like Jason Witten Dez Bryant and Miles Austin -- helped ease Kitna's mind and the Cowboys' concerns."The learning the new guys would have to have in a short period of time to be able to function, we felt this was the best decision for us," Garrett said. "You want a guy who has been playing all year long. But with the options available to us we felt Kitna gives us the best chance."But Kitna has no visions of grandeur."Again, Lord willing I never get to see the football field and Kyle plays awesome," Kitna said.Not that he was trying to break news about Romo's availability Sunday."Well, I mean he's preparing to play," Kitna said. "I think if Tony comes back everybody will be pretty happy about that." 

 IRVING — Much has been made of the Cowboys signing high school math teacher Jon Kitna out of retirement to figure into their quarterback puzzle against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Almost every reference has mentioned the quarterback, who retired from the Cowboys after the 2011 season, will earn about $53,000 for his Christmas week’s work. 
 
 Only Kitna, 41, is not keeping the money. It didn’t come up in his Christmas Day media scrum in the locker room. But later, while relaxing on a locker room couch and reconnecting with radio play-by-play voice Brad Sham, Kitna said he would be donating his NFL check to his school. He also told several teammates. 
 
 Since retiring from the Cowboys, Kitna, who has 15 seasons and four teams on his NFL résumé, has taught math and coached football at Lincoln High School in his native Tacoma, Wash. 
 
 The football team — the Abes — finished its season last month at 8-2. That was up from 5-5 during Kitna’s first season. Kitna’s son, Jordan, a sophomore, was his starting quarterback. 
 
 Kitna, a father of four, said he heard about Tony Romo’s back problem and texted Cowboys coach Jason Garrett on Tuesday morning, announcing his availability. A 30-minute phone conversation followed. 
 
 “I told Jason if he wants me or somebody to come in and call a play and be able to pull a play off if a bad situation happened, I would be willing to do that,” Kitna said. 
 
 Garrett, who worked out three other former NFL quarterbacks on Tuesday, opted, sight unseen, for Kitna, who knows how the Cowboys do things. 
 
 If Romo is unable to start, Kitna will back up Kyle Orton, who has been Romo’s little-used backup the last two seasons. At practice on Wednesday, Kitna ran the scout team offense. 
 
 It’s something he had been doing for the Lincoln Abes. 
 
 “He said he would run scout team for the high school team and give them a really good look like he gave us great looks when he was here,” Garrett said. “So he’s a very active guy. He’s a mentally tough guy. … And he’s certainly very young at heart. So it was good to have him back, good to have him back in the meetings, and [I’m] excited to see him practice today.” 
 
 In 2010, Kitna played in 10 games, starting nine, for the Cowboys after Romo suffered a broken collarbone. He was 4-5. He appeared in three games, all off the bench in 2011. Overall, he has started 124 NFL games for Seattle, Cincinnati, Detroit and the Cowboys. 
 
 Follow Barry Horn on Twitter 
 
 at @bhorn55.
– A Washington state math teacher will be suiting up for the Cowboys on Sunday—and he won't make a dime off the experience. News broke yesterday that Dallas would be bringing on former backup quarterback Jon Kitna for the game, and as if that in itself weren't a feel-good story, the Dallas Morning News reports that the 41-year-old will donate his entire $53,000 paycheck for the experience to the Tacoma high school where he teaches math and coaches football. When Kitna heard that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was suffering from a herniated disk—the same injury that forced Kitna to retire after the 2011 season—he texted coach Jason Garrett and offered his services. Garrett took Kitna up on the offer without a tryout thanks to his knowledge of the Cowboys' offense. "He's a mentally tough guy … and he's certainly very young at heart," Garrett says. Kitna will man the scout squad against backup Kyle Orton in practice—much as he does for the Lincoln High School Abes.