To many observers of the dysfunctional Cowboys franchise, owner Jerry Jones is the madman behind the team’s poor showings, as a squad stacked with talent and opportunity never seems to fulfill expectations.
But for Cowboys fans who were there for the first years of Jones owning the team, an era that culminated in three championships in four years, it’s confusing to know which parts of Jones’ death grip on the team help and which parts hurt.
Jimmy Johnson is here to clear that up.
Johnson entered the fray after Jones reasserted this week that he will remain the general manager of the team. While Jones has always been the owner, he took more control of personnel decisions after Johnson — who presided over two of the Super Bowls as head coach — left the team in 1994.
The Cowboys won another Super Bowl in 1995 but haven’t done much since, barely making it to the playoffs many years and often fizzling out when they do.
That, Johnson says, is no coincidence.
“That is completely a bunch of crock,” Johnson said on The Dan Patrick Show of Jones calling himself the team’s general manager. “Jerry started putting all those titles on himself after I left. He didn’t call himself general manager and president and all that stuff when I was there. He was just the owner, because it was in my contract that I had total responsibility for all football decisions. It was in my contract, and he didn’t allow anybody to have that in their contract after I left.”
Johnson said his ability as a general manager was more important than being the team’s coach.
“I was the personnel director there with the Cowboys,” Johnson said. “My pride was collecting the talent and putting together the team that won the Super Bowls.”
Johnson was critical not only of Jones making the personnel choices but also of the owner putting himself in a position from which he’ll never be fired. Johnson said no one in the Cowboys’ organization fears losing his job, so no one is motivated to produce better results. He also called the franchise a “country club.”
Thumbnail via Facebook/Bring Back Jimmy Johnson As Cowboys Head Coach
