Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 30, 1994 TAG: 9403300086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVE GOLDBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"This boiled down to a personal thing between Jimmy and Jerry," said Davis, who has been with Johnson throughout his career.
"It was nothing about football, it was nothing about management. This was personal."
Why would a coach walk away from a chance to become the first ever to win three straight Super Bowls, as Johnson did Tuesday?
Because, quite simply, Johnson's ego was too big to put up with an owner who believed he could coach the team. And it certainly was too big to put up with Jones' barroom suggestion last week that he might fire Johnson and bring in Barry Switzer, one of Johnson's longtime antagonists.
"After what had transpired over the last week, I didn't think they could coach or work together," said Dan Reeves of the New York Giants, himself a party to coach-owner disharmony in Denver. "I thought something was going to happen. Too many things had been said by both parties."
Johnson's departure wasn't unprecedented.
Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs, who like most successful coaches tend to believe they invented football, also walked away on top. So did John Madden, who traded in Al Davis for what turned out to be the most lucrative sportscasting job in history.
Parcells left the Giants in May 1991 after his second Super Bowl victory, in part because of differences with general manager George Young. He spent two years with NBC, then returned to coaching last season with the New England Patriots.
Walsh left San Francisco right after his third Super Bowl win in January 1989 with no great love for owner Eddie DeBartolo. The 49ers, under former defensive coordinator George Seifert, went on to win again in 1990 and Walsh returned to coaching at Stanford in 1992.
Gibbs quit the Washington Redskins a year after his third Super Bowl win. Like Parcells, he had health concerns, but he wasn't on the best of terms with owner Jack Kent Cooke.
Still, the Jimmy-Jerry feud was something different.
While Jerry was explaining his comments in Orlando last week, coaches like Sam Wyche, Marty Schottenheimer and Mike Holmgren watched, as amazed at the shenanigans as anyone. When Don Shula was informed of what had happened, he winced, smiled, then shook his head.
Johnson will have no problem finding a job, perhaps even as Shula's successor in Miami, which is probably his dream job - born and raised a Texan, Johnson has always viewed South Florida as his adopted home.
Moreover, Wayne Huizenga, the Dolphins' new owner, didn't exactly give Shula a ringing vote of confidence last week when he said of the NFL's winningest coach: "We'll talk about a new contract when his contract expires after next season."
The problem for Jones is much greater: finding a coach who can keep the players and the coaching staff together. With Johnson's departure, the Cowboys could quickly lose Ken Norton, Alvin Harper, Daryl Johnston, Mark Stepnoski, Nate Newton and Kevin Gogan, all free agents.
Switzer?
Troy Aikman, who signed his $50 million, eight-year contract on the expectation of playing for Johnson, was recruited by Switzer to play at Oklahoma on the promise that the Sooners would scrap the wishbone. That lasted until Aikman was hurt and he ended up leaving for UCLA.
Lou Holtz, who also has been mentioned for the Dallas job, isn't about to leave Notre Dame during spring practice.
So the logical successor is Davis, who can keep the staff together.
But he's never been a head coach and became defensive coordinator only when Dave Wannstedt left for Chicago after the 1992 season. Norv Turner, the offensive coordinator, is also gone, now head coach in Washington.
"It will have an impact," said Reeves, who may benefit from Johnson's resignation: his Giants took the Cowboys to overtime of the final game last season before Dallas could clinch the NFC East.
"They were one of the better-coached teams in the league," Reeves said. "They have great players, but that coaching staff had them well-prepared and they did a great job of evaluating talent. . . . They've had a lot of changes. They've lost their head coach and their offensive coordinator, too."
One thing they still have, however, is their owner.
Dave Goldberg has covered the NFL for The Associated Press since 1984.
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by CNB