Jimmy Johnson Profiled on 'A Football Life'
As a two-time Super Bowl and a national championship-winning head coach, Jimmy Johnson was able to get the best out of his players with a relentless pursuit for perfection and a drive to win at all costs.
On Wed., Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. ET, the latest installment of the Emmy-nominated NFL Network series A Football Life examines the coach who drove his teams to achieve immense success on the field, and the man who now spends his time with family, fishing in the Florida Keys and on television as a football analyst.
Jimmy Johnson: A Football Life chronicles his playing career as a defensive tackle at Arkansas, and his early coaching career at Wichita State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. As the head coach of the University of Miami from 1984-88, Johnson’s teams played with a swagger rarely seen in college football, and had a sense of bravado that flowed directly from their head coach. In five years as head coach, Johnson led the Hurricanes to a 52-9 record and a national championship in 1987.
In 1989, Johnson replaced the legendary Tom Landry as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, inheriting the worst team in the league. Yet with a keen eye for talent and an unrelenting coaching style, Johnson led the Cowboys to back-to-back Super Bowl titles. But the dynasty the Cowboys were building ended sooner than anyone expected when Johnson and owner Jerry Jones decided they could no longer co-exist.
The one-hour documentary features sitdown interviews with Johnson and Jones, former players such as Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Steve Walsh; current NFL head coaches Bill Belichick and Jason Garrett; his wife Rhonda Rookmaaker; and Hall of Fame players and co-workers Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw.
Additionally, footage includes Johnson’s audition tape to be on CBS’s Survivor, a candid fishing trip with Belichick in the Florida Keys, an address he gave to the University of Miami football team in April 2012, and video from various games and press conferences throughout his career.
Jimmy Johnson: A Football Life includes interviews with the following people:
- Jimmy Johnson
- Jerry Jones, Owner of the Dallas Cowboys
- Rhonda Rookmaaker, Jimmy’s wife
- Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys quarterback, 1989-2000
- Michael Irvin, Played for Johnson with the Dallas Cowboys and at the University of Miami
- Howie Long, Hall of Fame defensive lineman & FOX NFL Sunday analyst
- Terry Bradshaw, Hall of Fame quarterback & FOX NFL Sunday analyst
- Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys head coach
- Bill Belichick, New England Patriots head coach
- Larry Lacewell, Dallas Cowboys Director of Scouting, 1992-2004
- Jeff Probst, Host of CBS’s Survivor
Airing throughout the NFL season, A Football Life examines the iconic individuals and subjects that have had an undeniable and profound impact on the history of the National Football League, offering an inside look into their untold stories.
Every episode of A Football Life and all NFL Network programming is streamed live on NFL Mobile from Verizon, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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