Johnson May Return to Coaching by 1995 : Football: Former Dallas coach tells sports editors he will make a decision after upcoming season as TV analyst.

Jimmy Johnson, who coached the Dallas Cowboys to consecutive Super Bowl championships before stepping down March 29 in a dispute with owner Jerry Jones, is thinking about a new football season. But it won’t be the same this time.

He won’t be putting a team through preseason workouts, and he won’t be a colorful fixture on the sidelines in the National Football League. Instead, he’ll be an analyst for Fox Network and HBO.

But Johnson left no doubt when he spoke Thursday at the Associated Press Sports Editors Convention that he could be back coaching as early as 1995.

“I’ve always wanted to be the best I could be at one thing . . . coaching football,” Johnson said. “That’s what I worked my entire career to do, and there’s a good chance I’ll try to do that again.”

Johnson took note of the fact that this will be the first season since 1953 that he hasn’t either played or coached football.

“I’m sure I’ll miss part of it,” he said. “That’s why after this year I’m going to pull back and see whether I’m going to continue in television.

“I’m going to lay out in the Florida Keys, scuba dive, snorkel and fish and then decide. . . . There’s a good chance that I’ll go back. But I won’t make that decision until at least after the end of this season.”

Will other teams be more willing to dump their coaches knowing Johnson will be available?

“I don’t think so,” Johnson said. “I may pull back and say, I like what I’m doing and I don’t know if I want to get back into coaching.”

As Johnson spoke of his accomplishments in Dallas, it was clear the competitive fire was still burning. He was asked why he wasn’t wearing one of his NFL championship rings.

“They’re sort of outdated,” he said. “To be honest, I haven’t been wearing them because I’ve been down in Florida fishing. I’ve got them in the safe, but I haven’t gotten my ring for this past season yet.

“I don’t know if I will get one,” he said, drawing a laugh from the crowd. “I’ll try to be more up to date if I get that ring.”

Johnson did come away from Dallas with a reported $3.9-million settlement of his contract.

When asked about the Cowboys, he said, “I’ve got mixed feelings. I’ve got people there that I really care about.

“The bottom line is that they are the most sound team in the league. I think San Francisco is very close. They’re the two most talented teams in the NFL.

“My mixed feelings are that there are people there that I really care about . . . from the coaching staff, the players, the trainers, all the administrative people I brought with me. Some of those people have been with me for years. I truly want them to win.

“Obviously, there’s a side of me that’s saying that I don’t want them to surpass what we did the last couple of years. That’s natural. I’d be lying if I said anything different.

“But because of the people I really care about, I want them to win and I want them to win it all. I want them to win their third Super Bowl, and I’ll get my third Super Bowl somewhere else.”

Where might that “somewhere else” be?

Johnson said either he or his attorney have talked with “a half-dozen different owners” about coaching.

“A couple of them wanted me to coach this year, but I said there was no way, and we’ve tentatively agreed to talk again to some others at the end of the year.”

Johnson virtually ruled out returning to college football.

“I’d say I’m 99.9% sure that if I coach again, it will be in professional football.”

Johnson acknowledged that he’s having some “anxious moments” about his new career in television.

“I had a coaching show for about 15 years and I think I’ll be comfortable in front of the television (camera). But it’s not where my heart is. If you’re not totally into something, I don’t know that you’re going to be able to do your best. But I’m also looking forward to it because it is different. I think I’ll have fun with it.”

But Johnson knows it won’t provide the same excitement as coaching.

“I doubt I’ll have the same kinds of feelings I’ve had the last 10 years or so,” he said. “I won’t be nearly as anxious the night before a game. I won’t have the misery or ecstasy the day after the game. I won’t have the highs and lows I’ve had the last 10 years. But that’s what I like.

“My entire life is at the very top or the very bottom. There’s been very little in between, so I guess for this year I’m going to see what a lot of other people do. That is . . . live their lives between the highs and lows.”