A Former Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Jimmy Johnson grew up in Port Arthur, Texas, and started making waves early. He earned All-State football honors at Jefferson High School as a two-way lineman. At the University of Arkansas, Johnson became an All-Southwest Conference defensive lineman and helped lead the team to the 1964 national championship. He was a three-year letterman and was later named to Arkansas' All-Decade Team of the 1960's.

Johnson began coaching right out of college, coaching the defensive line at Louisiana Tech in 1965. The following year an assistant's job fell through at Florida State, and Johnson spent the year as assistant coach at Picayune. He spent a year as defensive line coach at Wichita State before becoming defensive coordinator at only 25 years old when Johnny Majors brought him on at Iowa State. Johnson spent two years at Iowa State then moved to Chuck Fairbanks' Oklahoma staff from 1970 to 1972. He returned to Arkansas in 1973 for four years as his alma mater's defensive coordinator under his college coach Frank Broyles.

In 1977, Johnson went to Pittsburgh as their assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. In his two years there he ran one of college football's all-time great defenses. His 14 years as an assistant coach finally ended in 1979 when he took over the rebuilding of the Oklahoma State team as head coach. Taking over a losing program at Oklahoma, Johnson turned it around. In his five seasons there, the team compiled a 29-25 record and had two bowl appearances. Johnson continued his success as head coach of the University of Miami from 1984 to 1988. He led the Hurricanes to a 52-9 record (44-4 over the final four seasons), snagged two Orange Bowl titles and a national championship, and won 36 straight regular season games from 1985 to 1988. The team had the fifth longest winning streak in NCAA history and had 20 consecutive road wins in the four years Johnson was coach.

On February 25, 1989, Johnson was named by Jerry Jones as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He took only one season to bring the team from one win or less per season to playoff qualification, fewer seasons than any other team. In 1991, the team sent four players to the Pro-Bowl, the first since 1979. The Cowboys were the first team in NFL history to produce the leading rusher, Emmit Smith, and receiver, Michael Irvin, in the same year. The 1991 playoff was the Cowboys' first post-season win since 1982 and their first road playoff victory since the 1980 season. The club's 11-5 record in 1991 was their best since 1983. Johnson remained with the Cowboys until 1994 and led them to 2 Super Bowl victories. He is currently broadcasting for the Fox sports network and for HBO.

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