Additional limelight isn’t a bad thing by itself, but when the attention begins to negatively affect the culture of the organization, then there is potential for issues to arise, and that is exactly what former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson believes is happening in Dallas.
The two-time Super Bowl champion spoke to Mackenzie Salmon of USA Today Sports this week, and delivered a surprisingly candid message about his former club.
Salmon asked Johnson if he believes the Cowboys should finally augment their decision-making process by bringing a new shot-caller (presumably meaning a General Manager not in the Jones family), and Johnson’s reply likely surprised Salmon.
“I don’t know that bringing in someone new will change things. It’s really a unique place to coach and work. There are so many accolades that go their way… unearned,” Johnson first replied.
He would elaborate on the interesting notion that the Cowboys receive unearned accolades, relating that statement to the media recognition the team collects,
“A lot of their players walk around like they have Super Bowl rings on because that’s the way in the public and throughout the country they are treated. They’re treated like, hey, you just won the Super Bowl, but in reality, they didn’t even make the playoffs.”
So how should the Cowboys reserve this mindset of entitlement? Johnson believes it starts with the head coach.
“And so the coach has got to be a hardline, no-nonsense type of guy, and sometimes he’s got to combat that.”
The Hall of Fame skipper didn’t give away whether or not he believes current head coach Mike McCarthy is the man capable of solving this potentially deep issue in Dallas, but he did lay out the framework for how he would handle the Cowboys if he were still in charge.
“I would start my very first practice like we were 1-15, and that’s how I’d treat those players, and we would be as physical as the NFL would let us be.
But I would grind on them. By the middle of the season they would hate to see me coming. But, hey, someway, somehow, you’ve got to bring them back down to earth and make them realize they only won six games or so.”
While the attitude most coaches have today is drastically different than how coaches were in Johnson’s hayday in the 1980’s and 90’s, if you’ve followed the Cowboys for long enough, you may see the merit in Johnson’s statements.
What do you think? Was Johnson too harsh on his former club, or was he telling them what they needed to hear?
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