You should have asked him how it felt to have his all-time great coach (Bowden) go 1-4 against Jimmy and basically lose the 1987 national title to him then......or how Bowden lost to Jimmy, 31-0, to start the 1988 season.
Since you asked for history, I will gladly oblige.
Jimmy was on a trajectory to be the Coach Bryant or Coach Saban of his generation
as far as winning went. The problem is that he did it the dirty way, he didn't teach his players respect for opponents, and when called on for his nonsense, he dealt race cards about the old "white people not understanding black people" argument (set aside for a moment that black players at other schools were not the on-field lawless punks that were tolerated and paid for at Miami).
I can present it cynically or I can present it with hyperbole. I'll try and be objective even though I thought he was a horse's backside back in the day.
Jimmy was a .500 coach at Okie State when the Big Eight was Nebraska, OU, and the Little Six. In his first job in a cheap conference (Colorado was not even that good during JJ's time in Stillwater), he was basically .500. (By contrast, Saban took a team on probation in a tougher conference with Michigan St and never had a losing season. Note that the sanctions actually began AFTER Saban's first year, so he bore the brunt of it).
Lou Holtz got canned after the 1983 season by Frank Broyles, in large part due to politics (by which I mean actually being involved in them - and I'll leave it there). Broyles called Johnson in (he was on the 64 co-title team there along with Jerry Jones) for an interview but didn't tell him that Ken Hatfield had already been hired. It boosted Jimmy's portfolio and when Howard Schnellenberger took a job in the USFL that turned out to not exist (Howard later went to Louisville and smoked us in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl).
Miami hired Jimmy Johnson, who inherited a national championship team. Note that Jimmy was hired on June 5, 1984 - something that would probably never happen today barring a Mike Price type thing. So we probably need to spot Jimmy the 1984 season,
when he did not even oversee spring practice.
He also had what Miami would make sure to not have anymore - a rather tough schedule. Take a look:
1984 Miami Schedule
Auburn (Kickoff Classic, defending SEC champions with junior Bo Jackson)
Florida (five days later, only team to beat Miami in 1983 - 28-3 - and generally considered best team of 1984)
Michigan (one week later in Ann Arbor, a contender, lost the 84 Sugar to Auburn by 2)
Purdue (these four games within 20 days)
Florida St (coming off a 7-5 season and on their way to being the Bowden dynasty)
That's their first five games and they went 3-2. Then they blew a 31-0 lead over Maryland, the biggest collapse in college football history, and lost to Frank Reich (who later did that to the Oilers as you recall).
And then Doug Flutie hit them with the Hail Mary.
So Jimmy lost five games in 1984. They wouldn't lose another home game for ten years. (It'll be important in a few minutes).
It was 1985 where Jimmy began to carve out his reputation as a jerk. He did have one point. As the season headed towards the end, Miami was fourth in the polls behind unbeaten Penn State, one-loss OU, and one-loss Iowa. Johnson had a legitimate beef - OU's one loss was to....Miami, 27-14 in Norman no less (Troy Aikman was injured for OU in that game and gave way to wishbone QB Jamelle Holieway). Given that this was the day of polls and teams with bowl game obligations, Jimmy.....
intentionally ran up the score on Notre Dame in hard luck Coach Gerry Faust's last game, 58-7.
I'm not going to debate the merits/demerits of that decision. In those days, it was somewhat more defensible given how hard it was to move in the polls with the same record. And let's be honest: it only became an issue because it was Notre Dame and oh, their former coach (Ara) just happened to be calling the game with Brent Musberger on CBS and made an issue of it. (Few Bama fans saw it because that was the day Van Tiffin became the greatest citizen ever of our state).
Besides - even after that moved Miami up to number two in the (then) UPI poll, the consensus was that Miami "had to blow out Tennessee," meaning he was being told to do exactly what he was getting bashed for. However, Johnson made it worse by insinuating that he would blow Tennessee off the field if the opportunity presented itself
Tennessee 35 Miami 7
In 1986, Miami ran the table and wound up meeting Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. Miami was a huge favorite, and it really was this game that showed us all what the future BCS/playoff title games could be like. The game was moved to January 2 (Friday) and they put on a show.
Miami outgained Penn State, 445-162....and lost, 14-10 thanks to five Vinny T interceptions. Jimmy's inability to show class came out during this insanity. Many of the Canes players showed up wearing fatigues at the joint team steak dinner.....a dinner at which they walked out after an alleged racial remark by the late John Bruno, whose punting kept Penn St in the game. That's the most remembered issue. But several players also showed up at a Fiesta Bowl luncheon in warmup outfits and
several of their players were insulting Penn State fans as they prepared to go onto the field for the Fiesta Bowl.
Jimmy came back from Japan and publicly apologized after being threatened by the school President. (With no Internet in those days, he wasn't aware of the ruckus until he returned to the US).
In 1987, Jimmy finally won a national title. But it came with a cost. It was supposed to be their year of shedding the thug image and yet three incidents marred the season. First, Maryland
got so angry for what they felt was a run up the score move that they vowed to not play Miami again. Second, i
n a 24-0 beating of Notre Dame, the Hurricanes got flagged repeatedly for late hits and Heisman winner Tim Brown stated they were "classless."
The third was when South Carolina
announced after the game they would no longer schedule Miami due to their cheap shots, including such things as hitting receivers from behind after the play was over.
The problem was that Johnson seemed to give off the vibe that he APPROVED of this....or at least tolerated it.
In 1988, Jimmy did very well, losing only the infamous "Catholics-Convicts" game to Notre Dame. He also went back to his other past time of whining. Heading into the bowl games there were two unbeaten teams: #1 Notre Dame and #3 West Virginia, led by Jeff Hostetler's father-in-law. Just as he did in 1985, Jimmy starting whining
before the game that if West Virginia won then #2 Miami should be the national champion.
"'I just want to bring attention to the fact we had a very difficult schedule,' said Johnson, whose team's only loss was to Notre Dame. 'When No. 2 wins and No. 1 loses, Ithink No. 2 moves up. I feel we've got as much a chance to be No. 1 as anybody. I'm just saying that after the bowl games, vote for the best team in the country." Note that at least in 1985, he had a legitimate beef since he'd actually beaten Oklahoma.
He blew out Nebraska in the Orange Bowl in what turned out to be his last game at Miami, although none of us knew it at the time.
How do we rate Jimmy?
The good - he had a 52-9 record in five years and a 44-4 record in the final four years (his first staff was holdover from Schnellenberger, which also caused problems since they weren't his guys). Those are Saban-type numbers over a brief period of time, although we can put the 1994-97 Tom Osborne (49-2) or 1980-83 Vince Dooley (43-4-1) and close to 1961-66 Bryant (60-5-1). He produced a LOT of NFL players. Yes, he inherited a championship team, but he made them better. And he started their long home winning streak.
The bad - set aside the whining, seeming approval of thuggery, and jack ash personality and what's bad about his record? Well, he couldn't win bowl games that weren't home games. His Miami bowl record was 2-3, with two Fiesta Bowl losses, a blowout Sugar Bowl loss in 1985, and two wins in the safe confines of the Orange Bowl against overrated Big Eight teams. In big games, he was 15-9 because he won a lot in his last two years.
Oh - and he did it in a rather dirty way, too......:
A total of
141 football players were reported to have received more than $223,000 in what the committee called impermissible financial aid.
Fifty-five football players were among a total of between 60 and 77 athletes to receive $212,969 in Pell Grant funds based on fraudulent applications.
Miami had maintained that the firing of Tony Russell, a former academic adviser, demonstrated that the problem had been isolated and solved. But the N.C.A.A. replied that a lack of institutional control allowed Russell to operate.
The violations also included
cash awards ranging from $20 to $200 that football players received in a period from 1986 through 1992, from a pool created by athletes and at least one former athlete. Miami was also found to have violated its own drug-testing policy by allowing three football players to play without facing the disciplinary measures listed in the regulations.
If Jimmy had stayed, he'd have had to leave with a "show cause" most likely. On the other hand, he likely would have won a couple of more national titles, too.
The problem is that Johnson's body of work is simply too small. He was 4-0 against Bowden when he had HIS staff on board, and I think we'll all agree Bowden was a top ten or certainly top 20 coach. However, if Jimmy had stayed then he would have lost recruits to Spurrier (and vice versa), which would have affected both programs. But I've also stated my view of the Miami teams of that era as well - it was a carefully crafted 'dynasty.'
In 1984, they played five games against teams with nine wins or more and went 2-3.
In 1985, they did the same and went 3-2, both losses coming to SEC schools.
In 1986, they softened their schedule and went 1-1 against such teams.
In 1987, they played three but also played two eight-win teams and did all those consecutively and went 5-0.
In 1988, they went 5-1 against nine wins or better teams....conveniently having a week off before 4 of them (this includes the start of the season and the bowl game).
So he starts 6-6 against good teams and finishes out 10-1. The catch is - we cannot ASSUME he would have kept it going OR that he would not. As much as I hate to say it, they were probably the best team in the country in 1986-87-88 - certainly in 1987.
Here's who I would put ahead of him just off the top of my head (no hate, these are NOT in order)
Bryant
Saban
Urban Meyer
Eddie Robinson
Knute Rockne
Bob Neyland
Bud Wilkinson
Woody Hayes
John McKay
Lou Holtz
Bobby Bowden
Guy Who Let Sandusky Run Loose
Barry Switzer (who was 0-3 against Miami during JJ's run there)
He was a much better in-game coach than either Stoops or Spurrier, neither of whom is worth a damn if they get in a close game. I'd rate him way ahead of Tom Osborne if we don't count his last five years as coach and I think Jimmy was still a better coach.
I think overall he's in the top twenty or damn close to it based solely on what he did do. If he's not in the top 20 (and folks can bring in names like Bo Schembechler, Fielding Yost, or Frank Kush), he's just a cut below it.