They were Arkansas teammates who shared a 1964 national championship. More by virtue of alphabetical order than a particularly intimate bond, they shared a room on their road. They were also next to one another numerically. Jimmy had on the No. 60. Jerry had on No. 61.
Jerry Jones achieved success in the gas and oil sector. Jimmy Johnson won a national championship at the University of Miami and went on to become one of the greatest college football coaches in history.
In 1989, when Jones bought the Cowboys and Texas Stadium for $140 million, he immediately fired Tom Landry and named Johnson coach. After winning one game that first season, the Cowboys won their first Super Bowl in 1992. A year later, they won another.
And then it was over. Egos. Hurt feelings. Perceived disloyalty. A $2 million goodbye. Just like that.
Over the years, Johnson and Jones took their turns needling each other from afar. Their relationship would ride peaks and valleys, even as friends, coaches and former players tried to bring them back together. They appeared at different reunions of those Super Bowl teams, as well as Arkansas functions.
The Lakers can only trade their 2027 first-round draft pick, which is the only first-round pick they have available this season, when evaluating their tradeable assets. In order to free up the final pick they owe the Pelicans from the Anthony Davis trade and to remove the Stepien Rule restrictions on other picks, they can move at least three picks during the 2024 NBA Draft.
Johnson frequently referred to his contract, which he felt explicitly stated that he was in charge of football operations, as evidence that Jones was encroaching on his authority.
Jones has consistently emphasized to others that he was Walker’s general manager and that he helped seal the deal by giving Walker a $1.25 million bonus. He felt that despite risking everything to buy the team, making the Walker trade work, and obtaining Haley from the San Francisco 49ers, he never received the recognition that he deserved. The Cowboys, according to Jones, could not even spell “Super Bowl” before Haley arrived.
Without Jimmy and Jerry being together, having that relationship, and each going about their own business, this dynasty would never have been able to be built. When the overlaps began to occur was the [problem].”
Not even consecutively Parades through downtown Dallas and Super Bowls might keep it together. Two months after the Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII, on March 21, 1994, at the owners meetings in Orlando, Florida, the working relationship came to an end.
After Jones stormed off, he later told Ed Werder and Rick Gosselin of Dallas Morning News, “There are 500 coaches who could have won the Super Bowl with our team.”
The following day, Johnson was furious.
Wannstedt recalled, “I’m waiting for him in the lobby because we sat together at league meetings.” “When he descended, I asked, ‘Are you ready to go?'” and he responded, “Yes, I’m prepared to go
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