Jimmy Johnson (American Football Coach) - University of Miami

University of Miami

In 1984, Johnson was hired by the University of Miami to replace former coach Howard Schnellenberger, who had won Miami's first national championship in 1983 and departed for the recently formed United States Football League. Johnson's hiring was met with an initial response of "Jimmy Who?" by the fans and media. Johnson started with a shaky 8–5 record his first season, which included a game in which Johnson's Hurricanes blew a 31–0 halftime lead in a loss to Maryland with Frank Reich as its QB and also included a 47–45 loss to Boston College immortalized by Doug Flutie's "Hail Mary" touchdown pass on the game's final play. But Johnson developed the Hurricanes into a football program that came to be known as "The Decade of Dominance." In his five years at Miami, Johnson compiled a 52–9 record, appeared in five New Year's Day bowl games, winning one national championship (1987) and losing one to the Penn State Nittany Lions (1986).

Johnson created a free-wheeling atmosphere where he allowed, and at times encouraged, his players to showboat, trash-talk, and run up the score. The criticism they received from other teams caused the media to deem them the "Bad Boys of College Football," a moniker Johnson openly accepted.

Johnson's Hurricanes would post the school's first undefeated regular season in 1986, only to lose the National Championship Game that year to #2 Penn State. The loss, along with losses in Miami's prior two bowl games, began to raise questions about whether Johnson was capable of winning major games. In the ensuing 1987 season, however, the Hurricanes went undefeated in the regular season yet again, and won the school's second National Title by defeating Oklahoma for the third season in a row.

Johnson also created controversy by allowing the University of Miami to retire Vinny Testaverde's football jersey number #14, but refusing to retire Bernie Kosar's number #20, even though Kosar played one season for Johnson and led the Hurricanes to the national title (though that didn't come under Johnson). Testaverde played four seasons for Johnson and entered Miami as a redshirt freshman, but lost when the Hurricanes played for the title in the 1986 Sugar Bowl and 14–10 to Penn State . Johnson's reason for not retiring Kosar's number was, "Bernie didn't finish the program here (at Miami)." Kosar graduated with honors a year ahead of his freshman class in 1985 with a dual major in finance and economics (and subsequently entered the NFL's supplemental draft). Testaverde won the school's first Heisman Trophy award in December 1986, and was the first player selected in the 1987 NFL Draft.

Johnson was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

In May 2012, Johnson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.