UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, August 22, 1996
9B
Jimmy's in control again
Johnson says he's in a 'perfect situation'
The Associated Press
DAVIE, Fla. — Jimmy Johnson has his priorities in order.
First is football. The next three are his boat, his tropical fish and his girlfriend, hairdresser Rhonda Rookmaker. To put things in further perspective, the only non-football related item in the Dolphins' office after he replaced Don
Shula is a picture of the boat.
"The perfect situation," Johnson says after two years in the coaches' holding tank as an analyst for Fox Television. "I'm in Miami and I'm coaching."
Johnson is a Texan who fell in love with south Florida when he became coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes in 1984. In the questionnaire she
Jimmy Johnson
NFL sends to all new head coaches, Johnson came to the section "favorite college town," and filled in "Miami" — not State College, Pa.; South Bend, Ind.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Norman, Oklahoma; or College Station, Texas.
Miami certainly isn't the same as Irving, Texas, where Jerry Jones would pop up beside Johnson on the sidelines or in the locker room, a Saudi prince or two in tow, and suggest that the glory due Johnson and the Dallas Cowboys was really the work of the owner.
Here Johnson is in total control as coach and general manager of the Dolphins. Wayne Huizenga, the team's owner, keeps a low profile. And Shula, the team's vice chairman, stays out of the way after being pushed aside following a record 347 wins in 33 NFL seasons, 26 of them with the Dolphins.
How much control does Johnson have? Less than three weeks before the season opener, he made it clear to rookie free agent Larry Izzo, who knocked down two Chicago Bears on a kickoff in an exhibition.
"Izzo!" he yelled. "Where ya from?"
"Woodlands," Izzo replied.
"Outside Houston?" asked Johnson.
"Yo, I know."
"Well, call your family and tell them that only two guys have made the Dolphins right now — Dan Marino and Larry Izzo.
That's Jimmy Johnson.
The Dolphins, picked last year to reach the Super Bowl, struggled to make the playoffs then were ousted in the first round by the Buffalo Bills. Johnson sat on his boat and listened
to the voices calling for him to replace Shula. He had to be laughing.
When Johnson took over in January, he replaced Tom Landry in Dallas, then Shula in Miami — two men who dominated the NFL for nearly three decades.
Why settle for replacing guys like Rich Kotite and Sam Wyche when you can go after legends?
"I always listened when someone called," Johnson said of the offers he got after leaving the Cowboys in 1993 and becoming a TV commentator. "But to tell the truth, I really wasn't interested. It would have taken an awful lot to get me out of Miami."
In fact, south Florida's romance with Johnson has come full circle.
When he arrived in Miami from Oklahoma State in 1984 to take over a national championship team abandoned by Howard Schnellenberger, he was known in south Florida as the guy who went 0-6 against Oklahoma. In fact, he wasn't nearly as well-known as his high school classmate in Port Arthur, Texas — Janis Joplin.
It took Johnson 13 months to establish himself. The breakthrough came Oct. 19, 1985, when he took the Hurricanes to Norman and beat the University of Oklahoma 27-14. That was the catalyst toward a national title at Miami two years later.
"Life's funny sometimes," said Barry Switzer, who replaced Johnson in Dallas and won the Super Bowl last season. "When Jimmy went to Miami, he was a nobody. When I got here, he was the legend, and I was the nobody."
The question is whether Johnson will be able to maintain his stature.
This year's Dolphins look — on paper, at least — like a .500 team. Johnson might get an extra victory or two with his motivational psychology, based on an obscure book called Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly.
The philosophy of Flow is Johnson's philosophy: Success in big things builds on success in little ones. It certainly did in Dallas, and it might in Miami, where the waiting time can't be as long. Marino is almost 35 and has three years left on his contract.
Johnson acknowledges that it's a different team in a different situation, but he's approaching his first year with the Dolphins the same way he approached the Cowboys when he took over in Dallas in 1989.
That Dallas team was 3-13, while the Dolphins went 9-7 last season and made the playoffs. And in Dallas he didn't have Marino to build around.
At least four first-year players could start, including both running backs. Keith Byars has been shifted to fullback to fill a yawning gap there.
That's Jimmy Johnson.
The Dolphins lost Bryan Cox, Troy Vincent and Marco Coleman to free agency, costing
"When Jimmy went to Miami,he was a nobody. When I got here, he was the legend and I was the nobody."
Barry Switzor Dallas Cowboys head coach
them three defensive starters. Jeff Cross, their best remaining pass rusher, had back surgery in July and is lost for at least half the season.
Zach Thomas, an overachieving fifth-round draft choice, got the job at middle linebacker, and Daryl Gardener, Miami's first-round pick, is being counted on at defensive end — a big load for a rookie labeled in college as an under-achiever.
The players who were let go say they respect Johnson. Cox, who signed with Chicago because the Dolphins didn't have the salary cap room to keep him after last year's splurge, said: "I appreciated Jimmy Johnson saying, 'Bryan, I don't know if you'll like it or not, but this is the situation we're in.' I appreciated him being honest. Basically, he had a wish list and told me, 'You call at No. 3, so basically you're not going to be here.'"
Wide receiver Fred Barnett, one of the key free-agent signings, is out because of knee surgery. Johnny Mitchell decided to quit football. He had been signed to play tight end in place of Eric Green and Ronnie Williams, who were both cut.
Still, winning here is supposed to take less time than in Dallas, where Johnson won the Super Bowl in his fourth season.
"When I first got there (Dallas), I was literally running a tryout camp," he said. "I remember one week, we had a guy named Kevin Lilly. He worked out on Tuesday, we signed him on Wednesday, he practiced Thursday and Friday, started Sunday and we cut him on Monday. That won't happen here."
But on one day of training camp last week, Johnson cut two players, demoted cornerback J.B. Brown to second string, and installed second-vear man Calvin Jackson in Brown's spot.
"I'm not going to say anything's changed," Jackson said when he learned of his promotion. "Because around here, things are always changing, and it could change back tomorrow."
That, too, is Jimmy Johnson.
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