NEED TO KNOW
- The Dallas Cowboys cut loose after winning two Super Bowls in the early ’90s
- During their 1994 campaign to win a third, the players had a new coach, Barry Switzer
- Less strict than his predecessor, Switzer says in the new Netflix docuseries that players’ off-the-field activities were “none of our business”
In 1994, some members of the Dallas Cowboys partied like it was 1999.
After consecutive years as Super Bowl champs, America’s Team was on top of the world — which made it all the more shocking when owner Jerry Jones decided to fire coach Jimmy Johnson.
Out went Johnson’s notorious penchant for punishing practices. In went Barry Switzer, the former Oklahoma football coach who led the school to three national championships — and who had a decidedly different method of coaching.
“Not knowing how Barry’s going to handle the situation left everybody kinda in limbo,” legendary Cowboys wide receiver Emmitt Smith says in episode five of the new Netflix docuseries America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys.
He adds, “Because we had the same pieces of the puzzle in place. All he had to do was be the manager of the team, and not mess the team up.”
As Switzer familiarized himself with the team, at the same time, some players took advantage of the new environment.
“It was a stark contrast to anything that had happened in the first five years,” former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman recalls, referring to his previous experience with Johnson. “I just remember thinking things are different, going forward.”
Or as former safety James Washington recalls about Switzer: “A lot of guys liked him because now the guys felt like they had freedom. Barry came into that locker room, the dynamic, the accountability, the work ethic — that had changed.”
Among the eye-opening mentions of past Cowboys’ transgressions is The White House.
A two-story residence that backed up to the team’s Valley Ranch headquarters, the property became a place where players went to have sex and party — all with the team’s fixer, Dennis Pedini, looking on.
The “president” of The White House was none other than star wide receiver Michael Irvin, who laughingly recalls the infamous den in the docuseries.
“We was like, ‘Man, we spend a lot of money for these hotels, all of these women,’ ” Irvin recalls. “So then we said, ‘Let’s do a house.’ ”
Looking back, Switzer explains his mindset about the extracurriculars.
“Those guys live on the edge,” the now-87-year-old says in the series. “[They’re] supposed to be adult men, married, most of ‘em. You know, really it was none of our business, they’re adults.”
Irvin goes on to further explain the set-up.
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“We had five rooms, and it was like whatever you like, you commingle with your like,” he says. “In that room, you may be smoking weed, this room, they may be doing X or coke, whatever. There was a group of girls in each room and you just kind of bounced from room to room.”
All of which gives clarity to a quote owner Jones shares early on in the docuseries.
“You can’t play football with Sunday school teachers,” he says.
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