Jimmy Johnson (American football coach)
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- For the NASCAR Nextel Cup driver, see Jimmie Johnson. For the Hall of Fame football player, see Jimmy Johnson (football player).
Early Life
He went to college at the University of Arkansas, where he was an all-SWC defensive lineman.
Early Football Career
Johnson began as a college assistant at the University of Pittsburgh during their run at two national titles during the late 1970's. He coached briefly at Oklahoma State University before taking the head coaching job at the University of Miami.
University of Miami
Johnson was approached by the University of Miami in 1984 to replace then-coach Howard Schnellenberger who departed for the recently formed United States Football League. Johnson thought twice about replacing Schnellenberger, who had won Miami's first national championship in 1983 but took the job, building on the foundation Schnellenberger started during a time period that came to be known as "The Decade of Dominance." In his five years at Miami, Johnson compiled a 52-9 record, winning one national championship (1987) and playing for a second.
Dallas Cowboys
In 1989, Jerry Jones, the new owner of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, a long-time friend and former University of Arkansas teammate of Johnson's, asked him to be the new head coach, replacing Tom Landry, who had coached the team since its beginning in 1960. In Johnson's first season as coach, the Cowboys went 1-15. However, Johnson's rebuilding of the team soon took off. This was due in part to Johnson's ability to find talent in the draft, and by signing quality players as free agents. Jimmy Johnson served as head coach of the Cowboys from 1989 through 1993. He became only the third man in NFL history to coach consecutive Super Bowl winners, winning Super Bowl XXVII in 1992 and Super Bowl XXVIII in 1993. After the 1993 Super Bowl victory, Jones and Johnson reached a mutual parting of the ways largely due to the fact that Jones was taking most of the credit for the two Super Bowl wins by saying to reporters that any one of 500 coaches could have won those Super Bowls given the type of talent that Jones had drafted and signed for the team. Jones later hired former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer, who won one Super Bowl for the Cowboys, largely on the basis of the strength of Johnson's players. After that, it has been downhill for the Cowboys as Jones has run through several coaches including Chan Gailey, now the head coach at Georgia Tech, Dave Campo, who coached for three years before going to the Cleveland Browns as the defensive coordinator and then in 2005 going to the Jacksonville Jaguars as an assistant coach. In 2003 Jones lured coaching legend Bill Parcells out of retirement. Parcells has been successful with the Cowboys despite limited talent, leading the team to a playoff berth in 2003 and narrowly missing the playoffs in 2005 when the Cowboys compiled a 9-7 record.
Miami Dolphins
After briefly being a TV analyst, Johnson joined the Miami Dolphins in 1996 replacing legendary head coach Don Shula, who retired at the end of the 1995 season. Johnson also controlled personnel decisions while with the Dolphins. Johnson's tenure in Miami was successful, but he did not live up to the expectations. Johnson inherited one the NFL's best offenses, led by Hall of Fame Quarterback Dan Marino, but only a mediocre defense. As a defensive guru Johnson was expected to put together a championship defense to finally give Dan Marino the Super Bowl that had previously eluded him. Johnson proved to be quite talented at scouting defensive players, drafting future pro bowlers Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor and Patrick Surtain. Thomas, a middle linebacker, was a 5th round draft choice who is widely cosidered one of the biggest steals in NFL draft history and one of the best at his position. But Johnson's draft record is blemished by several high profile first round busts on the offensive side of the ball including running back John Avery and wide receiver Yatil Green (to be fair his career was ended before it even began by successive knee injuries). Johnson never won a Super Bowl in Miami and retired in 2000 after compiling a 26-21 record in Miami. He was followed by his hand-picked successor Dave Wannstedt who had formerly been the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Wannstedt was Johnson's defensive cordinator in both Dallas and Miami. The Dolphins went 65-40 from 1996 to 2003 with a core group of players assembled by Johnson.
After leaving the Dolphins, Johnson then became a TV analyst again for Fox Sports, and is currently part of their NFL pregame show.
Trivia
- A little known fact is that Jimmy Johnson was a high school classmate of legendary blues-rock singer Janis Joplin and gave her the high school nickname of "beat weeds", which he mentioned in a 1992 Sports Illustrated profile of his career.
- Johnson's hair is often a source of humor: heavily starched in a perfect wave, it has been called "helmet hair" for staying in place through wind and weather. His players often took delight in tousing it after victories. He is sometimes humorously known as the only coach to wear a helmet both on the sidelines and off. However, Johnson has been sporting a looser, spikier hairstyle of late.
- As a child, Johnson's IQ was tested at near-genius level.
- During a locker room victory speech with the Cowboys after Super Bowl XXVII, Johnson became synonymous with the expression, "How 'bout them Cowboys??!!"
- He recently made a cameo appearance as a bearded prisoner in lockup on the TV series The Shield.
- Johnson owns two restaurants named "Three Rings" (after the three championships he's won on both collegiate and professional level.) One is located in Miami, Florida, and the other in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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