Johnson announces retirement from Fox Sports
Published
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson has called time on his broadcasting career.
The two-time Super Bowl champion head coach announced on Monday's The Herd with Colin Cowherd that he has retired from Fox Sports.
Johnson, 81, had been a member of the NFL on FOX panel since 2000 after a stint from 1994 to 1996.
“I’ve made an extremely difficult decision,” Johnson told Cowherd. “I’ve been thinking about it for the last four or five years, but I’ve decided to retire from Fox. I’m gonna miss it, I’m gonna miss all the guys but it has been a great run starting 31 years ago.”
A native of Port Arthur, TX, Johnson played alongside future Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones at Arkansas in the early 1960s. Beginning his coaching career shortly after leaving school as an assistant at Louisiana Tech, Johnson worked on staffs at Wichita State, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Pittsburgh before his first head coaching job at Oklahoma State in 1979.
After five years with the Cowboys, Johnson left for Miami in 1984. In 1987, Johnson led the Hurricanes to a National Championship, finishing an undefeated season with a victory over Barry Switzer's Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
Following five years at Miami, Johnson jumped to the pros with Jones's Cowboys in 1989. Johnson's Cowboys missed the playoffs in his first two seasons, including a one-win season in 1989, but a young core featuring Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith, the team reached the NFC Divisional Round in 1991 before back-to-back Super Bowl triumphs over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII in 1992 and 1993.
Feeling insulted after Jones told the media that anybody could have coached the Cowboys to a title, Johnson resigned as head coach in March of 1994 with an overall record of 44-36 in five seasons. Two seasons later, the Cowboys would win a third title under Switzer. After decades of estrangement from Jones and the franchise, Johnson was named to the team's Ring of Honor in 2023.
Joining Fox following his departure from the Cowboys, Johnson would return to coaching when he took the helm of the Miami Dolphins in 1996, replacing the retired Don Shula. In his four seasons with the Dolphins, Johnson would take his team to the playoffs on three occasions, but couldn't get past the Divisional Round. Johnson resigned following a 62-7 defeat at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1999 AFC Divisional Round.
Johnson was inducted into Canton in 2020.
Outside of his work with Fox, Johnson also appeared as a contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua in 2010, voted off on the eighth day of the competition and finish 18th of 20 contestants.