Jimmy Johnson Retiring From ‘Fox NFL Sunday’ at 81

Jimmy Johnson is bidding TV adieu. 

The legendary former football coach announced on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Monday that he is retiring from Fox Sports’ NFL coverage. Johnson had been a part of the original Fox NFL studio crew in 1994. He was there for two seasons, then later returned to Fox NFL Sunday in 2002. 

There had been speculation that Johnson could be retiring when Fox ran an AI tribute to his football career during the pregame show leading up to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. 

Johnson began his coaching career as an assistant at Louisiana Tech in 1965, ultimately becoming head coach of Oklahoma State in 1979, the University of Miami in 1984, and the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. He won the 1989 national championship at Miami, then two Super Bowls with the Cowboys in the early 1990s.

“Probably the most fun I’ve had in my career—and that’s counting Super Bowls and national championships—was at Fox Sports,” Johnson told Cowherd on Monday.

When asked by Front Office Sports earlier that week if he had an idea of how much longer he wanted to go, Johnson said he was taking things “day by day.” 

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Fox offered Johnson a package of reduced dates, but that the football lifer said he was “100 percent retired.”  

Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long remain stalwarts on Fox NFL Sunday, having been there consecutively since the inaugural season in 1994. The show also includes host Curt Menefee and analysts Rob Gronkowski and Michael Strahan. 

The show has been the top-rated NFL pregame show for 31 years.

“Jimmy served as an inspiration to generations of football fans with his legendary swagger, one-of-a-kind insight and signature humor,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said in a statement.