Jimmy Johnson officially announced his retirement from FOX Sports after spending nearly three decades on the network as an analyst on the FOX NFL Sunday studio show. Johnson, who is the former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins, won two Super Bowl championships during his coaching career and started working in sports media when FOX Corporation obtained NFL broadcasting rights ahead of the 1994 season. Dan Le Batard took the time to discuss Johnson on the Tuesday edition of his show and divulged that he had been talking to Johnson for the last couple of days.
“He wants to be left alone for a while because he’s not going to do what he’s been doing for a while,” Le Batard expressed. “This is the end of his career, and he knows, as Bobby Bowden said, that when you retire from this stuff, there’s only one more ceremony where people gather at this age.”
In reflecting on Johnson’s career as a football coach and a broadcaster, Le Batard spoke about former Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga. Prior to his time in the NFL coaching ranks, Johnson was also the head coach at the University of Miami, and Huizenga later afforded him the chance to coach the Miami Dolphins. Although he ended up accepting the offer, it was something Johnson did not initially want to do following the death of his mother. On top of his penchant for football and family, Le Batard expressed that Johnson had developed strong familial ties and was part of building FOX.
“FOX became the power that it has, at least in part, because it was a serious network that had to be dealt with because Jimmy Johnson was broadcasting football games on FOX,” Le Batard explained. That career – I don’t know if I could say the second part of his career is more impressive than the first, but I would say it from this respect. He developed real friends and family in Jay Glazer and Terry Bradshaw.”
Le Batard expressed that there was nothing like the chemistry evident on FOX NFL Sunday throughout the rest of television outside of Inside the NBA. The show was able to seamlessly welcome former New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan into the fold in 2008, and the cast has resonated with football fans across the country. In fact, he elucidated that the show is able to welcome in anyone because of their ability to convey professionalism and poise on camera.
“Best friends who became best friends in adulthood – think about how many of those you have,” Le Batard said. “Best friends who became best friends after 50 because it’s a different thing, right? You choose your friends early, you work through things with them, you go through work with them. Jimmy Johnson and Terry Bradshaw became best friends on television, and they became best friends in a way that I’m guessing Jimmy Johnson has more access to what real depression looks like and what it is to care about someone who can sink into real depression and needs the help of someone who loves him.”
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