Jimmy Johnson

James William “Jimmy” Johnson (born July 16, 1943) is a former American football coach who as of 2010 appears on Fox NFL Sunday, the Fox network’s NFL pregame show. He was the first football coach whose teams won both an NCAA Division 1A National Championship and a Super Bowl. In 1993, Johnson wrote Turning The Thing Around: My Life in Football (ghostwritten by Ed Hinton). Johnson as of 2010 lives in Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Johnson graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School (renamed Memorial High School) in Port Arthur, where one of his classmates was singer Janis Joplin.

He went to college at the University of Arkansas and was a member of the 1964 National Championship football team, where he was an all-SWC defensive lineman for Hall of Fame coach Frank Broyles, and a teammate of future Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Other teammates were Ken Hatfield; Jim Lindsey; Ronnie Caveness; and Loyd Phillips. Several future head coaches were assistant coaches for Frank Broyles and the Razorbacks during Johnson’s career in Fayetteville: Hayden Fry; Johnny Majors; and Barry Switzer. Johnson was nick-named “Jimmy Jumpup” because he never stayed down on the ground for long during football practices or games as it was said his determination was boundless.

Johnson’s coaching tree includes a number of future head coaches such as Butch Davis, Norv Turner, Tommy Tuberville, and Dave Wannstedt. Johnson is one of only two head coaches to win both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl. The other is Barry Switzer, his college teammate and rival head coach.