gimmesix
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
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Here then. This is an excerpt from cowboyswire (if you want to believe Jones was a team player until he just got tired of Jimmy's bull, I can't stop you):
Between Jones and Johnson, little things had become big things over five seasons together. Hairline fractures in the foundation had grown. The damages were now irreparable, the differences irreconcilable. And as in most divorces, the writing had been on the wall for some time.
Each side had a laundry list of complaints.
Jerry tried to be too hands-on. He wasn’t truly as involved in the day-to-day football operations as he wanted the world to believe. His fourth-quarter sideline visits had become a distraction. His habit of inviting VIP guests to mingle with players in the locker room and at training camp were counterproductive to getting the team focused on playing football. Jerry insisted on taking far more credit for the team’s turnaround than he deserved. He has too big an ego. After all, Jimmy reasoned, I’m the coach.
Jimmy leaked information to the media. He undermined ownership by unilaterally making personnel and roster decisions. He made a cheap-shot joke on a late-night TV talk show about Jerry pocketing money given to the team by the league for a post-Super Bowl party. He publicly acknowledged being “intrigued” by a possible coach-and-general-manager dual role with the expansion franchise in Jacksonville. Jimmy insisted on not sharing as much credit for the team’s turnaround as was deserved. He has too big an ego. After all, Jerry reasoned, I’m the owner and GM.
But there were other stories, too, transgressions that actually dated back to the early days of the Jones/Johnson regime.
In his book Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty, author Jeff Pearlman writes that Jones had talked about ousting Johnson in just his third season with the club:
“I knew as early as 1991 that I might want to make a change with Jimmy,” Jones said. “My attitude at the time- and I told this to Jimmy- was, ‘You’re doing a good job, but don’t let the door hit you in the *** on the way out.’ There were a couple of times during the 1992 season that he practically invited me to make the change. There were two times when I had to sit him down and tell him that this is how it’s going to be or else.” Well before Jones-versus-Johnson had begun to trickle into the mainstream media, Jones would confer with his family over how little respect he was afforded from his coach. “I’m going to fire his ***,” he’d say. “I can go out and find myself another coach.”
Pearlman also recounts the story of Fletcher Rudisill. Rudisill was a 27-year-old defensive tackle who had been a starter at Hudson Valley Community College. Jones met Rudisill at a bar and personally invited him to participate in 1993’s training camp, sight unseen. Jones was convinced Rudisill was a diamond in the rough. Under Johnson’s watchful eye at camp, though, he “couldn’t jog twenty feet without stopping to vomit” and was cut after two weeks. “This is the guy Jerry sent me,” Johnson explained to reporters with a contempt that was obvious.
It wasn’t the first time the two had clashed over a player. Johnson shrewdly kept a recovered Troy Aikman on the bench for the start of the 1991 postseason, starting Steve Beuerlein after the backup had won five straight games following an Aikman injury. But it was Jones who was trumpeting to the Dallas press in no uncertain terms that Aikman was, in fact, the future of the franchise. The quarterback controversy surrounded the Cowboys leading up to their wild card win over Chicago and again in advance of their divisional loss to Detroit, when Aikman finally replaced Beuerlein as the team trailed by double digits.
And then there was the 1992 NFL Draft.
The day before first-round picks were to be made, the Cowboys had reached out to the Cleveland Browns regarding a trade. Browns coach Bill Belichick agreed to the deal, but called Dallas to accept the terms after Jones had already gone home. So Johnson went public and announced the trade. The next day, Jones was upset that he hadn’t been consulted and had a closed-door meeting with Johnson.
Sports Illustrated‘s Peter King picks up the story from there:
“Their meeting droned on until, with only five minutes left before the start of the draft, Jones told Johnson, ‘You know the ESPN camera is in the draft room today. So whenever we’re about to make a pick, you look at me, like we’re talking about it.’ In other words, Make me look as if I’m a big player here, even though we all know I’m not making the picks.”
Johnson stormed out of the room and shared several graphic descriptions of Jones with defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt and director of player personnel Bob Ackles. The coach threatened to let Jones conduct the draft, even hinting that he might quit the team altogether. The staffers had to convince Johnson just to return to the team’s war room.
Then came the Jacksonville flirtation.
