By Jordan Long
The NFL Hall Of Fame Class for 2020 will be announced on February 1st, 2020. There are two former coaches who have been told they will be part of this class, FOX personality Jimmy Johnson and CBS personality Bill Cowher. They both found out yesterday during their live broadcasts.
Johnson was the Head Coach of two college teams before he had his shot in the NFL. He was with the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Miami University Hurricanes. Johnson spent 1979 to 1983 with Oklahoma State. There his overall record was 29 wins, 25 losses, and 3 ties, a winning percentage of .535. The Cowboys made 2 bowl games and went 1-1.
In 1984, the Hurricanes hired Johnson to lead their program. He lasted until 1988. With Miami, his record was an outstanding 52-9, a winning percentage of .852. Miami appeared in 5 Bowl Games under Johnson but they were 2-3 in them. Miami took home the National Championship in 1987.
In the 1989 NFL offseason, the Dallas Cowboys were looking for a new Head Coach. They fired coach Tom Landry. Replacing a legend was going to be difficult. New owner Jerry Jones took a risk and hired Johnson as Head Coach. It was a surprising hire since Johnson didn’t have any NFL experience.
Johnson’s first season in Dallas was awful. The Cowboys lost 8 straight to start the year. They finally had a victory on November 5th beating Washington by the score of 13-3. That would be their only win of the season, ending on a 7-game losing skid.
Dallas only played better under Johnson. Johnson lasted 4 more years in Dallas. The Cowboys went to the postseason 3 times and took home the Super Bowl twice. Johnson was let go after the 1993 season even though Dallas won the Super Bowl. In his 5 years in Dallas, he went 44-36, a winning percentage of .550
Johnson wouldn’t coach for another 3 seasons. He returned to the sidelines as the Miami Dolphins Head Coach. This seemed like a dream job. The Dolphins quarterback was future hall of famer Dan Marino. Miami was hoping Johnson would help Marino win a Super Bowl. It didn’t happen. The Dolphins record under Johnson was 36-28, a winning percentage of .563. At the end of 1999 Miami decided it was time to move on from him. At the NFL level his overall record is 80-64. That is not impressive but he did win 2 Super Bowls with the Cowboys and coached 13 playoff games in the NFL with a record of 9-4.
Since he was fired from Miami, Johnson has been a Fox personality for the NFL On Fox pregame show. He has done an outstanding job for them. This is part of why he is going to be inducted. According to Foxsports.com, Johnson said, “The only thing I can think of is all the assistant coaches who worked for me, all the great players who played for me are the reason. I can’t talk. This is so special to me because when you put in the work that we put in, it is nice for those people to appreciate it.”
The other coach joining him is Bill Cowher. Cowher was the Steelers’ Head Coach from 1992 to 2006. Pittsburgh’s record during the Cowher era was an impressive 149-90-1, a winning percentage of .623 during the regular season. Cowher’s teams made the postseason 10 times. Pittsburgh advanced to 2 Super Bowls and won Super Bowl XL over Seattle 21-10.
After leaving Pittsburgh, Cowher was hired by CBS for their NFL pregame show. He has been there since 2007. According to syracuse.com, Cowher stated, “Football is a total team sport. I had some great players, some great coaches, the best organization in football. I’ve lived a blessed life. I’ve come to the best network on TV. It’s a family here, like it was a family that we had there. And to have to give back just something to the game of football, that’s been a part of my life, the virtues that it teaches you, the morals that you have the obligation to move on, the platforms that we have, you know, I’m a blessed man and I’ve been very blessed to have been surrounded by some very special people.”
These two coaches deserve spots in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The rest of the Hall of Fame class of 2020 will be announced during the NFL Honors on February 1st. After that, they will be enshrined at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The induction takes place on August 6 through the 9th in Canton, Ohio.
Leave a Reply