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Fox NFL Sunday team at Bagram Airfield 2009-11-07 2 (cropped)

James William Johnson (born July 16, 1943) is an American sports analyst and former football coach. Johnson served as a head football coach on the collegiate level from 1979 to 1988 and in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons. He is the first head football coach to win both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl (Barry Switzer and Pete Carroll have since joined him), achieving the former with Miami and the latter with the Dallas Cowboys.

Johnson held his first head football coaching position at Oklahoma State before becoming Miami's head football coach in 1984 and guided the team to victory in the 1988 Orange Bowl. His collegiate success resulted in Johnson succeeding original Cowboys head coach Tom Landry in 1989, a position that saw him help rebuild the team back to winning form. Johnson's tenure from 1989 to 1993 culminated with the Cowboys winning consecutive Super Bowl titles in Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII, but conflict with owner Jerry Jones led to Johnson leaving after the second championship.

Following two years away from football, Johnson returned in 1996 to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, where he served until retiring after the 1999 season. Since his coaching retirement, Johnson has appeared as an analyst for Fox Sports and is one of the featured commentators of Fox NFL Sunday. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.

Survivor[]

Johnson was one of 20 castaways competing in Survivor: Nicaragua, the 21st edition of Survivor, in late 2010. He is a long-time fan of the show, and had been cast for Survivor: Gabon, which was the 17th edition of the show, but had to withdraw after failing a physical. Johnson, the oldest contestant of the season, was part of the Espada tribe, made up entirely of people aged 40 and older. He was voted out 8–1 on Day Eight of the competition, becoming the third person voted out of the game and finishing 18th overall. As he left the game, he said to his tribe, "One of you, win your million bucks, okay?" He also said, "I had fun, but I was miserable the whole time. I still love the game, it's been a great adventure, but this is the most stressful time I've ever gone through in my life. And that includes Super Bowls and collegiate national championships. I initially said, 'Keep your strongest members.' I obviously wasn't one of them."

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