National Football League

Jimmy Johnson will be inducted into Cowboys' Ring of Honor, Jerry Jones announces on FOX

Updated Nov. 21, 2023 1:07 p.m. ET

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David Helman

Dallas Cowboys Insider

At long last, Jimmy Johnson has reached Cowboys immortality.

It came through a winding road and may have taken longer than most expected. But 30 years after leading the franchise to back-to-back Super Bowl championships, the legendary coach of America's Team has been tapped for the Dallas Cowboys' Ring of Honor.

The news came about in the most fitting manner possible for the NFL's most dramatic team. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones appeared on FOX NFL Sunday alongside Johnson live from Carolina (where the Cowboys play Sunday). 

He delivered the news mere minutes before kickoff: Johnson would finally be inducted on Dec. 30, 2023.

"There's never been any question that you need to be in the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor," Jones said.

Jimmy Johnson reaches Cowboys immortality, as Jerry Jones tells him he will be inducted to the team’s ring of honor

This is the culmination of Johnson's legendary resume. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, but speculation remained about when Jones would grant him the Cowboys' highest honor. He becomes the 24th member of the team's legendary Ring of Honor, which was created in 1975 by the team's original general manager, Tex Schramm.

"I'm appreciative of the Ring of Honor, but more appreciative of him bringing me to the Cowboys in ‘89. The two of us worked around the clock. Together. And people don’t realize the relationship. Back then, Jerry and I talked every day. Every single day," Johnson said in a press conference after the announcement.

"He is a big, big part — maybe the biggest part — of my entire career. And I'm very appreciative of that."

Also in the Ring with him are six members of the 1990s Cowboys teams he helped construct — and which went on to win three Super Bowls in four years: Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Charles Haley, Darren Woodson and Larry Allen.

That group, helmed by Johnson, rose to NFL dominance in a strikingly short amount of time. Jones hired Johnson, his college teammate at Arkansas, shortly after buying the team in 1989. The duo began their tenure with a 1-15 season, but a flurry of smart trades and big-time draft picks turned them around in record time. Dallas was in the playoffs by Johnson's third season and champions by his fourth.

Of course, Johnson wasn't on hand for all three Super Bowls, nor did he even coach Allen. In the spring of 1994, coming off consecutive championships, Johnson and Jones famously parted ways in the middle of a dynasty. Jones would hire legendary college coach Barry Switzer to help reach two more NFC Championship Games and win one more Super Bowl. But even if Switzer is a coaching legend in his own right, his role was widely regarded as building on the foundation Johnson had assembled.

The cause for the split, and the task of assigning credit for one of the NFL's great runs of dominance, has been a hotly debated topic — both in Dallas-Fort Worth and around the league — ever since.

In the summer of 2021, shortly before Johnson was formally inducted into the Hall of Fame, Jones even recalled that Switzer had tried to talk some sense into him about the disagreement that led to the dismissal, not understanding how Jones and Johnson couldn't mend fences.

Johnson also coached the Miami Dolphins from 1996-1999, reaching the playoffs in three of those four seasons. He finished his NFL head coaching career with a record of 80-64, and he's currently one of just 14 head coaches to win multiple Super Bowls.

He would begin a legendary career as a broadcaster at FOX after concluding his tenure with the Dolphins.

Jones hinted years ago that this was on the horizon, as he appeared with the FOX NFL Sunday cast at the NFL's Hall of Fame Game back in 2021 and indicated that Johnson would be added to the Ring of Honor — he just didn't say when.

He caught some blowback this summer when he announced that legendary pass rusher DeMarcus Ware would be inducted into the Ring in 2023. When he was pressed on Johnson's status, he said there was no timetable for a decision.

"It's not a matter of waiting," Jones said. "The waiting term isn't a product of this process. Everybody that is going to go in there in the future is waiting. The point is that because we're open for business at the Ring of Honor that there's some order of things. When you start talking about timing, that's never been an idea or presented at all."

Whether it was an elaborate ruse or just matter of Jones changing his mind, it's irrelevant now. Jimmy Johnson will have his name alongside the Cowboys' most legendary figures, even if he had to wait a while to see it.

As the announcement concluded, Johnson saw fit to add a few final words, ones he made famous decades before: "How 'bout them Cowboys?"

David Helman covers the Dallas Cowboys for FOX Sports and hosts the NFL on FOX podcast. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team's official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing "Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion" about the quarterback's time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter at @davidhelman_.

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