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In his first season in Stillwater in 1979, Jimmy Johnson was named Big Eight coach of the year after leading OSU to a 7-4 record.
  


By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer
6/28/2008
Last Modified: 6/28/2008  2:42 AM


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Johnson got OSU program headed in the right direction



What if Oklahoma State's stadium renovation and money movement had started in 1979?

Would Jimmy Johnson, who later won a collegiate national championship with the Miami Hurricanes and two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, have coached for longer than five years at OSU?

Probably not.

"I tend to get bored with things, even if they were going good," Johnson said during a brief telephone interview from his home in the Florida Keys. "I guess I wasn't the type to get settled somewhere for a real long time."

Said Pat Jones, who was a Johnson assistant at OSU and with the Miami Dolphins, "Stillwater was too small a town for Jimmy. It was confining for him. We had a good time there, but Jimmy is a five-year guy. He begins to look elsewhere."

Jones' description of Johnson as a "five-year guy" is apt. Johnson was at OSU for five years, at the University of Miami (Fla.) for
five years and with the Dallas Cowboys for five years. His career ended with a four-year run of coaching the Miami Dolphins, and in 2000 he became a full-time NFL television analyst for Fox.

As a first-time head coach, Johnson was at OSU in 1979-83, significantly improving the talent base, adjusting expectations and leading the Cowboys to a pair of bowl games. His 1979 team finished 7-4 and Johnson was the Big Eight coach of the year, but the Cowboys were banned from bowl play because of NCAA sanctions that had been levied before Johnson's arrival.

"We couldn't go to a bowl, but we knew things would get better," says Johnson, who turns 65 in July. "Things did get better."

After completing his playing career at the University of Arkansas, where he was a defensive lineman on a Razorback squad that captured the 1964 national title, Johnson was an assistant at Louisiana Tech, Wichita State and Iowa State before joining the Oklahoma Sooner staff in 1971.

After helping coach the Sooner defense for two years, Johnson joined the Arkansas staff for four seasons. He was a University of Pittsburgh assistant in 1977-78 and then succeeded Jim Stanley as the OSU head coach.

"Jimmy was enthusiastic and basically just won over the (OSU) selection committee, and that enthusiasm just snowballed after that," Jones said. "OSU had won (a share of the Big Eight title) in '76, but morale was down. Jimmy's personality and flashiness publicly countered what was going on at Oklahoma with Barry Switzer.

"Image-wise, there was a different light shed on Oklahoma State. Unquestionably, Jimmy's personality was unique and a total contrast to what had been at Oklahoma State before him. He liked to have a good time — on the field and off. Fun was always factored in."

During a 2005 interview, longtime OSU football secretary Joyce Robbins reminisced about the Jimmy Era: "Coach Johnson was a delight to work for. I loved him. He worked hard and played hard, and he had a good time doing either one."

Johnson successfully recruited three players — tailback Thurman Thomas, defensive tackle Leslie O'Neal and safety Mark Moore — who became two-time All-Americans. The 1982 season was a disappointment for OSU (the Cowboys expected something special but sagged to 4-5-2), but tailback Ernest Anderson led the nation in rushing with 1,877 yards.

During the recruiting process, Jones said, Johnson stressed one absolute priority: speed.

"We brought a lot of speed guys to Oklahoma State, and then we figured out where they could play and help us," Jones recalls.

Several months after coaching OSU to a victory over Baylor in the 1983 Bluebonnet Bowl, Johnson left for the University of Miami, where he succeeded Howard Schnellenberger and inherited a national championship team.

While at OSU, Johnson was 0-5 against Oklahoma. In 1983, in an unforgettable Bedlam meltdown in Stillwater, the Cowboys squandered a 20-3, fourth-quarter cushion and lost 21-20 to the Sooners. But as the Miami coach, Johnson was 3-0 against the Sooners. He coached the Hurricanes to the 1987 national title, defeating OU in the Orange Bowl.

From Miami, Johnson departed for the Dallas Cowboys where he succeeded the legendary Tom Landry. The Dallas club had been purchased by his former University of Arkansas teammate, Jerry Jones.

Johnson became a coaching superstar. His 1989 team, with Troy Aikman as a rookie quarterback, was 1-15. Three years later, Johnson and the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. He had become the first coach to savor both a college national title and a Super Bowl championship.

In March 1994, after Dallas had successfully repeated as the world champion, Johnson and Jerry Jones stunned the sports world by parting ways. In a move described as neither a firing nor a resignation, Johnson walked away from the best situation in pro football. His Dallas successor was his former nemesis — Switzer.

In 24 years since he moved from Stillwater, Johnson has never returned to the Oklahoma State campus.

"I think Jimmy was a great coach," said Jim Traber, who played quarterback for Johnson at OSU. "He was great with the media and great as a motivator. He was a great defensive coach. He should get credit for getting things started at OSU."

Pat Jones followed Johnson into OSU's head-coaching position, and he directed the Cowboys to a higher level of achievement — three 10-win seasons and three bowl victories. But Johnson, Jones insists, was a contributor to the success that followed his move from Stillwater.

"Jimmy was removed from it, but he ignited that whole scene in the mid-'80s to late '80s at Oklahoma State," Jones said.

Johnson summarizes his Oklahoma State experience: "There were great people there. I really enjoyed the people and the university. I have good memories of Stillwater."





Bill Haisten 581-8397
bill.haisten@tulsaworld.com



Today’s question: Who is the best coach in OSU history?



Coming Sunday: Who is the best coach in OU history? Log on and vote at www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra

Jim Lookabaugh
1939-49

Led then-Oklahoma A&M to the school’s first sustained success. Lookabaugh guided teams to three bowl championships (1945 Cotton Bowl, 1946 Sugar Bowl and 1948 Delta Bowl) and produced All-Americans such as Bob Fenimore and Neill Armstrong. His 1945 team was the only undefeated team (9-0) in OSU history. The former multifaceted athlete in baseball, basketball and football at Oklahoma A&M was the first alum to become the school’s head football coach. He finished with a 58-41-6 career record. The native of Watonga died in 1982.

Jimmy Johnson
1979-83

During Johnson’s five-season stay, 15 different Cowboys were named to All-Big Eight lists, and six were All-Americans. During the season before Johnson took over the OSU program, the Cowboys lost to Wichita State and North Texas State. During his final season in 1983, the Cowboys were 8-4, but the record does not reflect just how good those Cowboys really were. OSU lost to then-No. 1- ranked Nebraska, OU, Kansas State and Missouri by a combined 12 points. Johnson went on to win the national title with the Miami Hurricanes and two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.

Pat Jones
1984-94

With Heisman Trophy-winning Barry Sanders at tailback, Hart Lee Dykes at wide receiver and Mike Gundy at quarterback, Jones’ 1988 Cowboy offense ranked among the best in college football history. Through his first five seasons on the job, Jones’ record was 44-15 and included bowl wins over South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming. But the effects of NCAA probation killed Oklahoma State’s momentum, and by 1991 the program had plummeted to an 0-10-1 finish. Jones resigned following the 1994 season and went on to a 10-year career as an NFL assistant with the Dolphins and Raiders.

Les Miles
2001-04

Before his departure to LSU in January 2005, Miles had become the only coach in Oklahoma State history to lead the Cowboys to three consecutive bowl appearances. He recorded consecutive Bedlam victories, and on both occasions OSU knocked Oklahoma out of nationalchampionship contention. The 2001 game in Norman —when a 3-7 Cowboy team prevailed 16-13 over the defending national champion Sooners—may have been the greatest upset triumph in OSU history. In 2002, Miles posted an eight-win season and a Houston Bowl victory. In 2003, the team had nine wins and a Cotton Bowl appearance; in 2004, seven wins and an Alamo Bowl appearance. Miles’ 2007 LSU team won the national championship.



Who’s the best quarterback? Best coach? U DECIDE



You can talk politics this election season. But in our summer elections, we’re talking college football. All summer, we’ll be asking questions, and we have one request: You decide.

It’s simple. Go to our Web site (www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra), check out the candidates and then vote for who you think is best. You can vote daily on any question — one vote per e-mail address, per day. We’ll add questions to our site every week, and you can vote any time.

On Aug. 24 in our college football preview section, we’ll unveil the winners.



FRIDAY’S QUESTION



Who is the best coach in TU history?

TODAY’S QUESTION



Who is the best coach in OSU history?

COMING SUNDAY



Who is the best coach in OU history?



Let us know what you think



You can vote every day on any of the questions we’ve asked this summer.

They’re at www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra. We’ll have election results in our college football preview section Aug. 24.

Here are questions we’ve asked so far:

Who is the best quarterback in OU history?

Josh Heupel
Jamelle Holieway
Jimmy Harris
Jack Mildren
Jason White

Who is the best quarterback in OSU history?

Josh Fields
Mike Gundy
Rusty Hilger
Zac Robinson
Dick Soergel

Who is the best quarterback in TU history?

Paul Smith
T.J. Rubley Jerry Rhome
Glenn Dobbs Jeb Blount

Should there be a college football playoff? Vote to keep the current system or on one of the World’s three playo> proposals.

Keep the current system: Rankings determine the top two teams after the regular season. They meet for the national title.

Plus-one format proposal: Teams are ranked after the bowl games, and No. 1 faces No. 2 for the national title.

Four-team bracket proposal: The top four teams are seeded after the regular season. It’s a two-round playoff for the national title.

Eight-team bracket proposal: The top eight teams are seeded after the regular season, and the playoffs begin.

What is the best venue for the OUTexas game?

Cotton Bowl: The tradition continues at State Fair Park.

Dallas Cowboys new stadium: Could be the best football stadium in the world.

Norman and Austin: The series would be played on campus.

Who is the best coach in TU history?

Elmer Henderson
Henry Frnka
Buddy Brothers
John Cooper
Steve Kragthorpe
By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer


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Willard_Roker, (6/28/2008 8:35:22 AM)
You forgot to mention that Johnson cheats and left both OSU and Miami in trouble with the NCAA when he departed from them.
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