Report: Ex-Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson “Fired” His Wife When He got Cowboys Job

In 1992, Dallas Morning News Business Columnist Cheryl Hall did a feature piece on ex-Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson.  After spending about two hours with Johnson at his office at Cowboys’ headquarters, Hall came away with some unique insights about the two-time Super Bowl winning coach, including this bit from Johnson that Hall shared in today’s Dallas Morning News as she reflected on the best interviews of her 20-year career:

 “Above everything else, the thing that matters most to me as CEO is that we win,” Johnson said. “There is only one goal. If anyone in the organization doesn’t have that goal, then I get somebody new in the organization.”

According to Hall’s account, Johnson applied that same logic to his personal life when he chose to divorce his ex-wife shortly after he was hired to coach the Cowboys:

  “I told her, ‘I can either be head football coach of the Dallas Cowboys or married to you. I’ve decided to be head football coach of the Dallas Cowboys.’”

Johnson parted ways with Dallas a few years later after he realized that he could never be the real “CEO” of the Cowboys as long as his ex-college teammate Jerry Jones owned the team.

Robert Littal

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