The game of football has always been a part of Jimmy Johnson’s life. Before he became a well-known coach, he was a member of the Arkansas Razorbacks football team under coach Frank Broyles. He also coached at his alma mater. Throughout the years, he’s become well known for his job as a studio analyst for the NFL on Fox. Even before that, he made his mark as a coach at both levels of football. Just as David Baker did with Bill Cowher on Saturday night on The NFL Today, he did the same for another coach just a day later. For years, I’ve been making a case for Jimmy to be enshrined into Canton, Ohio. Today, he’s finally received word that he’ll be the 327th member of the greatest club in football today, the Pro Football Hall of Fame this August.
It’s about time that this man gets the celebration along with the recognition he deserves. It’s long and overdue. This man has won at both levels which is rare. Some have been successful as college coaches while others have had more of a better run coaching at the professional level. Jimmy received his first head coaching job in 1979 when he was hired in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was there for five seasons and helped turn around a program that was labeled inconsistent. In 1984, he accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, better known as “The U”. 1987, coach led Miami to an undefeated season and a national championship victory over the Oklahoma Sooners. The Dallas Cowboys lured Johnson away from the college game to coach at the next level in 1989. In his first year, he went 1-15. However, it didn’t take Jimmy long to turn the Cowboys into a championship contender. He led the Cowboys to Super Bowl victories in 1992 and 93. Jimmy and the Cowboys mutually agreed to part ways. After a few years away from the game, the Miami Dolphins hired Johnson to be their next head coach. He would go on to coach fellow and future Hall of Famers Dan Marino and Jason Taylor. He had big shoes to fill replacing the legend, Don Shula. Coach resigned in 1999 citing burnout as the reason.
I often think of how he created the atmosphere for his players to talk while at Miami. During his tenure, the Hurricanes because the bad boys of college football. Every year when the new Hall of Fame class is announced, I was always wondering when I’d see his name. There’s been no other man more deserving of this than Jimmy Johnson. He’s one of three men to win championships in college and the NFL (Pete Carroll and Barry Switzer are the others). Jimmy is also one of six coaches to lead teams to consecutive Super Bowl victories. He began the Cowboys dynasty in the 90s. Now, he’ll get to join the triplets in Canton (Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith).
