Barry Switzer’s relaxed coaching style clashed with Troy Aikman’s expectations, leading to tensions that lingered despite the Cowboys’ 1995 Super Bowl win.
DALLAS — Coming off back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1994, expectations for the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t have been higher — both from fans and inside the locker room.
Following a petty fallout between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the head coach that led them through those Super Bowl wins, Jimmy Johnson, the two parted ways, and Barry Switzer was then named the next head coach.
In Netflix’s new docuseries, America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys, Switzer was described as the antithesis of Johnson. He was laid back and didn’t push players nearly as hard as his predecessor. Switzer would even give the players the day off from practice if they were hungover. While that approach worked for some, others weren’t satisfied — including quarterback Troy Aikman, who had played under Switzer at Oklahoma.
Aikman said Johnson’s leadership style allowed the team to operate with a “good cop-bad cop” dynamic, where he could be the nice guy while Johnson was the enforcer. With Switzer, Aikman felt the balance was gone.
“I’m f****** tired of being the guy who’s gotta run down everybody’s throat all the time,” Aikman said on the sideline during a game. “Why don’t we have a f****** coach that gets over there and does something about it instead of patting everyone on the a**, and they haven’t done their f****** job all night.”
To make matters worse, there was controversy surrounding Aikman and Switzer for a long time after Switzer accused his quarterback of only yelling at Black players after he got upset with wide receiver Kevin Williams for dropping multiple passes in a loss against Washington.
“I said that’s bull****,” Aikman said in the documentary. “If a player wasn’t doing what he’s supposed to do, you know, I didn’t give two s**** about what color he was, I mean, I was upset.”
Former players Michael Irvin, Charles Haley and Emmitt Smith all came to Aikman’s defense, saying that was the last thing you could pin on him.
Aikman said that this accusation was the final nail in the coffin of their relationship. From then on, the two didn’t talk. They managed as best they could, Aikman said, but they never communicated.
While the fractured relationship between the head coach and quarterback caused rifts in the media and locker room, it didn’t stop the Cowboys from going out and performing, ultimately winning a third Super Bowl in four years, the first under Switzer in 1995.