Jimmy Johnson Joins the Retirement Party

Jimmy Johnson, the lacquer-haired coach who fell short of his goal of taking the Miami Dolphins to the Super Bowl in his third season, is leaving the profession, his father said late Wednesday.

“Jimmy told me he was ready to retire and wanted to start enjoying himself,” C.W. Johnson told the Associated Press from his home in Port Arthur, Texas. “He said the season wore on him. . . .

“This is it for him in coaching. He said he was going down to his place in the Florida Keys and work on his house down there.”

Johnson, who guided the University of Miami to a national championship and the Dallas Cowboys to two Super Bowl titles, was hired by the Dolphins in January 1996 to succeed Don Shula and said he would have the team in the Super Bowl in three years.

Although the Dolphins made steady progress under Johnson, improving from 8-8 in his first season to 9-7 in 1997 and then 10-6 this season, they won only one playoff game, holding off the Buffalo Bills, 24-17, in a wild-card game two weeks ago.

Last Saturday, the Dolphins lost to the Denver Broncos, 38-3, and were eliminated from the playoffs.

Despite the humiliating loss, Johnson, 55, spoke optimistically afterward about next season, saying the Dolphins needed only a couple of offensive playmakers to join the NFL’s elite.

“I told our players that you need to win enough games during the season to get a bye, get people healthy and get ready for an opponent,” Johnson said. “We didn’t win enough games during the season to get that advantage.”

But he has not met with reporters since.

It was speculated Wednesday night that the recent death of his mother and his father’s battle with cancer might have been a factor in Johnson’s decision. Allene Johnson died on Dec. 20--a day before the Dolphins defeated the Broncos, 31-21, to clinch a playoff spot.

Johnson, who has two years remaining on his contract, also frequently complained this season that media scrutiny and criticism were more intense in Miami than when he coached the Cowboys.

Dolphin owner Wayne Huizenga, in California to complete the sale of his Florida Marlins baseball team, returned to Miami Wednesday night, apparently to meet with Johnson.

The coach reportedly will meet with his assistants this morning and then with quarterback Dan Marino before announcing his resignation at a news conference.

After coaching at Oklahoma State and winning a national championship at Miami in 1987, Johnson enjoyed his greatest success with the Cowboys, winning Super Bowls after the 1992 and 1993 seasons and compiling a 51-38 record.

He left the Cowboys in a dispute with owner Jerry Jones, then worked as an in-studio commentator for Fox during the 1994 and 1995 seasons, turning down several lucrative offers to return to coaching after the ’94 season.

“I’ve found something at this stage of my life I love more than coaching football,” he told reporters at the time.

Coaching, he added, takes up too much time.

“In Dallas, I lived three blocks from my office, and there wasn’t one day during the year when I didn’t go into the office,” he said. “I just don’t want to again devote my entire being to thinking of nothing but winning football games.”

He changed his mind a year later, of course.

On Wednesday, C.W. Johnson said his son told him: “Well, I guess I never got it out of my system, but I’ve got it out of my system now. I think this is it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fish Report

Jimmy Johnson’s coaching record in the NFL:

*--*

Year Team W-L 1989 Dallas 1-15 1990 Dallas 7-9 1991 Dallas 11-5 1992* Dallas 13-3 1993* Dallas 12-4 1996 Miami 8-8 1997 Miami 9-7 1998 Miami 10-6

*--*

*--Super Bowl champions