I was too young to understand why he was fired, and haven't read about it since now. Great article.

I grew up in Dallas a cowboys fan, but stopped watching after that. And because of Jerry, I had no problem rooting for the Texans after moving to Houston.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28480453/jimmy-johnson-hall-fame-surprise-was-cowboys-biggest-triumph-25-years

I think probably too much is being said about the fateful dinner toast. If it wasn't this event, it was going to be something else. Jerry was focused on paying off the loan for the team and had done so (I believe) at this point. So, he was going to be meddling no matter what because that's why he bought the team to begin with.

Agreed that relationship was headed for separation no matter what. I'm not Jerry apologist (see posting history) but I'm in business and if you look at it from a business owner standpoint you can see some frustration. Human nature sometimes dictates that ego eclipses good business judgement and in this case ego certainly sunk Jones. At the same time though, Jimmy had just gone on national TV and called Jerry a "cheapskate", he openly courted the Jacksonville Jags opening, there was the infamous toast, and Jimmy supposedly routinely bad-mouthed Jerry within the organization to where Jerry felt like others in the organization were losing respect for him.

Jerry shoulda found a way to suck it up and deal with it, but I think lotsa people in similar position to him woulda initiated the "divorce" too.

If you look at Jimmy's coaching history he never stayed in one place for more than five years. I think best case scenario he would have stayed through the '95 season and gone on to coach somewhere else anyway.

Jones should have sucked it up for a few more years or until Johnson left on his own as they probably would have gotten a shot at 1-2 more super bowls.

The travesty was hiring Switzer. With the amount of talent the Cowboys had in 1994 they could have had a wealth of talented coaches that would have taken the job.

The Cowboy 90's run was 4 elite years. It could have and should have been so much more.

diehard03 said:

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I think probably too much is being said about the fateful dinner toast. If it wasn't this event, it was going to be something else. Jerry was focused on paying off the loan for the team and had done so (I believe) at this point. So, he was going to be meddling no matter what because that's why he bought the team to begin with.

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What was he toasting? The article doesn't say. In fact, I had to read that part about 8 times to kind of sort of tell what it even meant.

When you are as successful in life as Jerry Jones had been, you generally develop a massive ego and love for the spotlight. He couldnt handle Jimmy taking the lions share of credit.

PatAg said:

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When you are as successful in life as Jerry Jones had been, you generally develop a massive ego and love for the spotlight. He couldnt handle Jimmy taking the lions share of credit.

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Johnson has a share of the blame too. He should have wanted to make it work for as long as possible and possibly get 2 or 3 more rings. I don't see Jones as being that hard to work for as long as he feels included. It can be irritating but he made that clear when he bought the team. Johnson ducked for the Dolphins and that's likely why it's taken 20 years to get to HOF.

This goes both ways. Jimmy could have been more gracious in the credit he gave to Jerry. Instead, to the points above, Jimmy did quite a bit of stuff to basically bait and snub Jerry, which was completely unnecessary. Everyone knew and appreciated and understood what Jimmy had built. There was no harm or anything lost to shine a little light Jerry's way. Jerry is the one that stuck his neck out in firing Landry to begin with. There is no Jimmy and Dallas without Jerry putting it all on the line. Both of these egos were never going to last, and I always saw this fracture as a 50/50 deal.

DannyDuberstein said:

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This goes both ways. Jimmy could have been more gracious in the credit he gave to Jerry. Instead, to the points above, Jimmy did quite a bit of stuff to basically bait and snub Jerry, which was completely unnecessary. Everyone knew and appreciated and understood what Jimmy had built. There was no harm or anything lost to shine a little light Jerry's way. Jerry is the one that stuck his neck out in firing Landry to begin with. There is no Jimmy and Dallas without Jerry putting it all on the line. Both of these egos were never going to last, and I always saw this fracture as a 50/50 deal.

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Agree. Both were cunning and calculating at every move. Never will forget Jimmy saying how he got divorced when he left the U because he didn't need a wife anymore to make recruiting home visits. They both raised the stakes and ultimately they both put self-worship above winning.