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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is a bit of an enigma. He has total control over the organization he bought back in 1989. Therefore, most of the decisions surrounding the team and everything else go through him.
For today's NFL Countdown, we take a trip back to the now-infamous firing of Cowboys legendary head coach Tom Landry.
Tom Landry: The Cowboys first head coach
Back in 1960, Tom Landry was the Cowboys' first-ever head coach. It was a position he held for 29 years. During his time in Dallas, Landry won two Super Bowls, led the team to three NFC championships, and only had eight losing seasons.
The star head coach would also take the Cowboys to the postseason 18 times during his reign in Dallas. However, the firing of Landry and how it was done is something that many people in Texas will never get over.
Even with the Super Bowls that followed and the Hall of Fame enshrinement, nothing pushes away the memory of when the team's new owner fired Tom Landry before his first day had even finished.
Given that Jones had only just got his feet underneath him as an NFL owner, the decision to fire the only head coach the team had known was a tough one.
On February 25, 1989, Jones fired Landry. It was also his very first day as the team's owner. Jones replaced the legendary head coach with college football coach Jimmy Johnson.
The reason for shipping out Landry was that he was too old and wasn't winning (Dallas had three losing seasons in Landry's last three years).
Jones was right in firing Landry, but did it the wrong way
As mentioned above, Landry was the only head coach the organization ever had. Under him, Dallas had 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966 through to 1985. That is some achievement.
But the last three seasons of Landry's reign were not successful. A 7-9 season in 1986 was followed by a 7-8 season and his last in charge was a 3-13 season. Something had to give, and it did. It was how it was handled that still has many Cowboys fans angred by the situation.
Per oklahoman.com, the 79-year-old brought Jimmy Johnson to town and was photographed by the "Dallas Morning News" with Johnson in Dallas. Keep in mind, this happened even before Jones' buying of the team was even official.
He did fly to meet Landry, along with Tex Schramm, the Cowboys president at the time, to deliver the news. Jones now wishes that he had done it differently.
Jones said via oklahoman.com:
“If I had a chance to do it over again, I would've waited a year and just got my feet on the ground a little bit more."
As one can imagine, an oil tycoon who was a first-time NFL owner firing the teams' only coach was seen as a bad move. But as the years went on, many felt that it was justified as the billionaire owner drafted Troy Aikman and the team would go on to be one of the most dominant teams of the 90s.
Even to this day, despite the success Dallas had while the now 79-year-old was owner, some have still not forgiven him for firing one of the best coaches to ever grace the NFL.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit oklahoman.com and H/T Sportskeeda.
