(Photo by Dallas News.com)
For those of you that don't know the man up above, good. Just watch a nationally televised Dallas Cowboys game, where the camera pans on him at least 15 times.
Anyways, this is Jerry Jones. He bought the Cowboys in 1989. His vision was to sculpt the franchise to be successful. Unfortunately, Hall of Famers Tom Landry and Tex Schramm, didn't fit that. In a move many chastised at the time, both were fired. Jones also is the team's general manager and took a gamble and hired national championship-winning coach Jimmy Johnson. They actually had #1 overall pick Troy Aikman and budding superstar receiver Michael Irvin at their disposal, but they needed more. The Minnesota Vikings needed a running back to propel the franchise to the Super Bowl and decided to trade a truckload of picks to Dallas for Herschel Walker. The Cowboys used the picks to draft players that plugged specific roles for the team. One of the Vikings' picks in the 1990 NFL Draft was used to select Walker's replacement, Florida running back Emmitt Smith, who only became the all-time leading rusher for yardage in NFL history. In five short years, the Dallas Cowboys went from 1-15 to consecutive Super Bowl titles. They were in a middle of a dynasty and the two J's figured to continue the franchise's dominance going forward.
Here's the issue: Since Jerry was the owner and general manager, he thought that he deserved a lot more credit than Jimmy Johnson. He did purchase the team and was credited as the GM in the Herschel Walker trade, all Jimmy did was just coach the team. There was a feud brewing between the two. Then Ed Werder and Rick Gosselin interviewed Jones and he said this about Jimmy Johnson.....
"I think there are five hundred who could have coached this team to the Super Bowl. I really believe that."
Now everyone knew that there was a rift. Jimmy was the guy to fall on the sword and was no longer the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry decided to rely on the formula he used before to hire his next head coach. A coach with a national championship pedigree in Barry Switzer. The problem was Switzer and Aikman had a history, a very turbulent history. Switzer used the Wishbone offense at Oklahoma while Aikman was the quarterback, a QB that wasn't suited for the Wishbone. And after all those years, they still hated each other. FEEL THAT TENSION! In his first year as coach, the Cowboys lost in the NFC Championship to the 49ers. But Jerry really wanted to prove that he was the reason that the Cowboys were a dynasty. In 1995, they signed free agent CB Deion Sanders to solidify an already tough defense. The Cowboys would return to the Super Bowl and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers due to Neil O'Donnell handing a Super Bowl MVP to Larry Brown. So, Jerry was right. He did have another coach win a Super Bowl, so Jerry was vindicated.
What has happened after that hasn't been pretty. In 23 years since, the Cowboys have endured with a slew of playoff failures. From fumbled snaps, having a catch be called a non-catch then years later being called a catch, and letting a 13-3 season go to waste by letting a TE run past their supposedly stout secondary, Dallas hasn't been enjoying many dynasties lately.
And now Jerry is having trouble extending his key players.
(Sources: Dallas Morning News, Dallas News.com, SB Nation, ESPN)
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