Jerry Jones: No plans to put Jimmy Johnson in Ring of Honor
By Mike Dyce
It looks like the feud between Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and former head coach Jimmy Johnson, who led the team to two Super Bowl wins in the early 90s, isn’t over. The debate about whether Johnson belongs in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor has raged on.
Johnson, who has as many Super Bowl wins as legendary coach Tom Landry who has been inducted, is certainly a worthy candidate. Jones said he has no plans to induct him though.
“I don’t have plans for Jimmy to be in the Ring of Honor. The criteria that I’m interested in have more to the guys that were on the field making the plays,” Jones said in an interview on Outside the Lines, via Pro Football Talk.
It is interesting considering it was Jones who put Landry in the Ring of Honor, as well as former general manager Tex Schramm. Neither one of them were “on the field making the plays.”
It also is a more politically correct reason then how Jones is depicted in a story from ESPN senior writer Don Van Natta Jr., where Jones seems to be still hung up on their history from two decades ago.
“There was just an undermining that went on,” Jones says of his time working with Johnson. “It’s subtle. It’s smart. … I lost my tolerance of having an associate, a friend, not be loyal. I’ve been told, ‘That’s trite. You should be bigger than that.’ I mean, really — am I so dumb that I don’t know you don’t fire a coach after y’all just won two straight Super Bowls?”
Van Natta’s piece contains multiple quotes and instances that show Jones is still holding a grudge, the real reason he won’t induct Johnson.
“To have that kind of recognition for a coach, I know that’s there, on the other hand, I get to make that decision,” Jones said on OTL.