paulemcrae

True, true, but don't try and tell me that Jimmy Johnson didn't know a football player when he saw one. He build a great team in a short amount of time and when he left, it disintegrated pretty quickly. If he had a similar situation (i.e. ability to draft a bunch of players in a short period of time), he might have made a go of it in Miami as well. He ranks close to Chuck Noll in the ability to evaluate talent.

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falconstorm

They should have learned when Spurrier became a HC for the Redskins...

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bigboy

Jimmy was very good at evaluating talent but Jimmy also had the benefit of VERY good coaching. Norv and Wandstat (sp) were very good coaches on that staff as well and helped his transition. Guys like Petrino and Spurrier think they can come in and out think NFL HC's with their offense and they've fallen right on their faces because of it.

They need to take the route of Norm Chow now IMO

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Professor

Don't discount the fact that Jimmie Johnson also inherited a ton of draft picks because of Hershcel Walker

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falconstorm

Johnson had quite a bit of talent when he started...

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paulemcrae

Well...he inherited Michael Irvin and Herschel Walker from a 3-13 team. Maybe you can count Nate Newton and Mark Tuinei as well if you want to push it. However, he shrewdly traded for and drafted a slew of great players (Aikman, Smith, Novacek, Haley, Johnston, Stepnoski, Williams, Woodson, etc.). Certainly, the core of the Superbowl teams was put in place by Johnson.

I totally agree with the point about having good assistants like Turner and Wannstedt. You have to surround yourself with good people and Johnson was smart enough to know what he didn't know.

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gruntbygod

Actually he inherited Aikman too.

Walsh was his guy. Thats why he spent a #q1 in the Sup draft for him.

Another thing about Johnson was that he was the master of trading, and it wasnt just Walker. He moved up and down at will in just about every draft he did. He came up with the pick value chart that most teams use today.

Johnson's problem in Miami was that he never mastered free agency. I think if he would have stuck around the NFL after his Miami stint and figured that system out, he may have a few more SB's

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49ers5000

Was it Bobby Ross that resigned many years ago from Detroit? I was hoping Mike Nolan was resigning, but no such luck from our fuher we call coach. Sorry of the bad word, but Nolan is a dictator that must be fired. Tough luck about your coach. I feel he stabbed your team in the back by doing that for no reason at all. He did what Bobby Ross did, heartless!

paulemcrae

Not to nitpick, but I think Johnson was already the coach when Aikman was selected. I agree, however, that he really liked Walsh and gave him every chance to succeed, but Aikman was too good an athlete with too strong an arm.

I still remember how happy JJ was when Walsh engineered the Cowboys only victory of the 1989 season over the Redskins.

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