Long before becoming a celebrated football coach, Jimmy Johnson was a standout defensive end at his high school in Port Arthur, Texas. Johnson, now 82 years old, spoke to the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock about his early years and career.
Johnson recounted how various colleges recruited him but ultimately chose Arkansas thanks to his family’s wishes. “So Arkansas came down. [Assistant coach] Jim Mackenzie, he looked at my tape and offered me a scholarship right there,” Johnson said. “I’d never been to Fayetteville before in my life, and I said, ‘Well, let me talk to Mama and Daddy.’ And Mom looked at me and said, ‘You can go wherever you want to go, but if you want us to watch you play, you’re going to Arkansas.’”
He immediately committed to Arkansas and canceled other scheduled visits. Johnson is one of only three coaches—alongside Barry Switzer and Pete Carroll—to win both a collegiate national championship and a Super Bowl. He remains the only one of that group who also won a title as a player with Arkansas in 1964.
Johnson recalled discussions with Fred Marshall regarding Arkansas’ championship team talent and credited much of their success to head coach Frank Broyles’ assembled staff rather than individual players.
After starting his coaching career as an assistant at Louisiana Tech in 1965, Johnson worked at several schools before returning to Arkansas as defensive coordinator in 1973. When Broyles retired after the 1976 season, Lou Holtz was chosen as head coach instead of Johnson. “It was the right decision,” Johnson said. “Lou Holtz was better qualified than I was. I wasn’t as prepared to be a head coach as Lou was.”
Johnson later became the head coach at Oklahoma State and expressed disappointment about not getting the Arkansas job after the 1983 season: “Playing at Arkansas, having love for Arkansas, I wanted to be the Arkansas head football coach,” he said.
His coaching career shifted when Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys in February 1989 for $140 million and replaced Tom Landry with Johnson after Landry’s long tenure with the team. Reflecting on Landry’s final seasons and his own start with Dallas, Johnson stated: “Tom Landry was a great, great coach — he had three straight losing seasons. They were the worst team in the NFL, 3-13 before we got there (…). I tell people, ‘It wasn’t because of coaching it was because they just didn’t have enough talent. We’ve got to bring more talent in.’ And that’s what we did.”
Johnson described celebrating Jones’ acquisition of the Cowboys with dinner at what turned out to be Landry’s favorite restaurant: “Jones said, ‘It’s a little old place, no one’s going to notice us in there,’ (…). Come to find out it’s Tom Landry’s favorite restaurant.”
Johnson shared memories from challenging times during his first year leading Dallas and his partnership with Jones: “Every day we would talk back and forth, we’d communicate (…). Jerry had borrowed all that money. He was trying to pay off that loan and they were losing money with the Cowboys (…). We didn’t have a whole hell of a lot of friends (…), so (…) we were each other’s friend.” The communication eventually led Dallas to improvement including two Super Bowl wins under Johnson’s leadership.
After their second Super Bowl victory together following the 1993 season, Johnson left Dallas due largely to strained communications between himself and Jones but noted their relationship has since improved: “We’re really good now, we talk now (…). We see each other like we’re best friends, so it’s all good.”
Johnson then coached the Miami Dolphins from 1996 through four playoff-qualifying seasons before retiring fully from coaching. After stints in broadcasting—first leaving Fox this past March—he entered both the College Football Hall of Fame (2012) and Pro Football Hall of Fame (2020), followed by an honor from Dallas’ Ring of Honor in 2023 once he mended relations with Jones.
Reflecting on retirement life in Florida Keys among friends from his coaching days—including “the Triplets” Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin—Johnson observed how time allows him moments missed during active coaching years.
“But hey, it paid dividends. It worked out for us, but yeah I’m doing that now. My guys come down (…), we spend time together — I got out of coaching because of family (…), and I’ve got the greatest family in the world,” Johnson said while holding back tears near event’s end. “I’ve got great memories of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Thank you.”
