Jimmy Johnson

SWFLHurricane

Recruit
Joined
Dec 12, 2014
Messages
29,783
I posted this a few yrs ago, and thought I'd post again...These are JJ's own words to then UM DC Tom Olivadotti in a very Heated exchange shortly after Shnellenberger left UM about the Superiority of the 4-3 D...vs the 3-4 D....(When I met JJ during a trip to the Keys, I asked him if this was true and accurate, and he laughed and said it was)
"Quote"....Look *******, the Selmon Bros were AAs in an Upfield Pressure Def at Oklahoma, while you were coaching at some place called Salesianum Prep School in F*cking Delaware. Did you ever happen to wonder who might have thought up the Oklahoma Upfield pressure Defense that got the Football worlds attention?, all the way to Salesianum Prep in F*cking Delaware??.....
ME...Thats who....The Point is...my Scheme, with the right talent to execute it, can disrupt ANY Offense...Now, I know you believe otherwise...and I couldn't care less....We WILL be running a 4-3, regardless of what you, or anyone else thinks....
Olivadotti quit shortly afterwords....Talk about Savage......My favorite UM HC ever...(with Butch a close 2nd)
 
Advertisement
I posted this a few yrs ago, and thought I'd post again...These are JJ's own words to then UM DC Tom Olivadotti in a very Heated exchange shortly after Shnellenberger left UM about the Superiority of the 4-3 D...vs the 3-4 D....(When I met JJ during a trip to the Keys, I asked him if this was true and accurate, and he laughed and said it was)
"Quote"....Look *******, the Selmon Bros were AAs in an Upfield Pressure Def at Oklahoma, while you were coaching at some place called Salesianum Prep School in F*cking Delaware. Did you ever happen to wonder who might have thought up the Oklahoma Upfield pressure Defense that got the Football worlds attention?, all the way to Salesianum Prep in F*cking Delaware??.....
ME...Thats who....The Point is...my Scheme, with the right talent to execute it, can disrupt ANY Offense...Now, I know you believe otherwise...and I couldn't care less....We WILL be running a 4-3, regardless of what you, or anyone else thinks....
Olivadotti quit shortly afterwords....Talk about Savage......My favorite UM HC ever...(with Butch a close 2nd)
LOL That's fantastic. There is and only ever will be one JJ!
 
Advertisement
Advertisement
JJ was right to implement his system.

But let's be clear: that 1983 defense of Olivdotti's was money.

The longest play they gave up all season was 28 yards, Any (other than the Orange Bowl), they gave up only one score the entire year in the 4th quarter, and had one of the best scoring defenses in the nation.

Unfortunately, Olivadotti was never able to duplicate that kind of success with the Dolphins. Mostly due to really lousy player personnel decisions.
 
Schnelly was the architect and saw the University of Miami for what it could be, but JJ made the University of Miami, "The U."

JJ created, or allowed to be created, what is the persona of Miami and the CANES. We should all have shrines to JJ as Canes fans

JJ perfected what Schnelly started. JJ's greatest attribute was his ability to adapt. Schnelly installed a pro style offense. JJ coming form Oklahoma State was running your typical run first offense. He gets here and changes his philosophy and runs the pro style offense and recruits the local speedy kids. I don't think JJ created the persona, but he saw who the kids were, tried to understand them and let them be who they were.
 
Advertisement
JJ was right to implement his system.

But let's be clear: that 1983 defense of Olivdotti's was money.

The longest play they gave up all season was 28 yards, Any (other than the Orange Bowl), they gave up only one score the entire year in the 4th quarter, and had one of the best scoring defenses in the nation.

Unfortunately, Olivadotti was never able to duplicate that kind of success with the Dolphins. Mostly due to really lousy player personnel decisions.

Miami ran a 5-2 in 1983. Quite frankly the most underrated defense in Miami history is the 1981 team. They played a much tougher regular season schedule and got jobbed twice, first in Austin and second in Starksville. By the end of the year, Miami was the best team in the country.

Defense under JJ did not become what it was until Wanny arrived. He fired Bill Trout. And he did not lose any sleep when Paul Jette left. JJ was a savage as a head coach and had no problem showing an assistant the door.
 
Last edited:
I posted this a few yrs ago, and thought I'd post again...These are JJ's own words to then UM DC Tom Olivadotti in a very Heated exchange shortly after Shnellenberger left UM about the Superiority of the 4-3 D...vs the 3-4 D....(When I met JJ during a trip to the Keys, I asked him if this was true and accurate, and he laughed and said it was)
"Quote"....Look *******, the Selmon Bros were AAs in an Upfield Pressure Def at Oklahoma, while you were coaching at some place called Salesianum Prep School in F*cking Delaware. Did you ever happen to wonder who might have thought up the Oklahoma Upfield pressure Defense that got the Football worlds attention?, all the way to Salesianum Prep in F*cking Delaware??.....
ME...Thats who....The Point is...my Scheme, with the right talent to execute it, can disrupt ANY Offense...Now, I know you believe otherwise...and I couldn't care less....We WILL be running a 4-3, regardless of what you, or anyone else thinks....
Olivadotti quit shortly afterwords....Talk about Savage......My favorite UM HC ever...(with Butch a close 2nd)
[/QUOTE

Manny cleaning house on OF is the exact representation of JJ! Only difference, he didn't have a conversation with any of them except with daddy Richt. And we can see how he viewed Richt's opinion.....none were even considered to stay on!
 
Love JJ man....but lets give big props to Schnellenberger....started the Dynasty.
A guy named Dennis Erickson doesn’t get enough credit here. He won 2 NCs and I know “He won them with Jimmy’s guys” Well in 1986 the most talented team in college football history to date lost to a Penn State team that was less talented at every position on the field. That was a game we had absolutely no business losing. Jimmy was a great coach but Coach E does not get enough credit here. He did win 2 NCs. Talk to anyone that ever played for Dennis and all you will hear are great things. A players coach on and off the field.
 
Advertisement
Howard Schnellenberger's mustache would like to have a word with you....
I'm surprised you didn't go with his iconic Pipe. No doubt Schnelly gets the nod as Don Corleone and will be forever the man who created the team and culture that is the U.
As far as my comments about J.J. I am speaking to the coaching style, the attacking 4-3 scheme, coaching with middle fingers raised to Lou Holtz and everyone else he faced. THAT is what is second to none in my not so humble Canes opinion.
 
A guy named Dennis Erickson doesn’t get enough credit here. He won 2 NCs and I know “He won them with Jimmy’s guys” Well in 1986 the most talented team in college football history to date lost to a Penn State team that was less talented at every position on the field. That was a game we had absolutely no business losing. Jimmy was a great coach but Coach E does not get enough credit here. He did win 2 NCs. Talk to anyone that ever played for Dennis and all you will hear are great things. A players coach on and off the field.
We were also playing with a quarterback who had been in a scooter accident and hadn't played for 47 days. Had Geoff Toretta started, we would likely have another ring.
 
JJ was IMO the best football coach ever, but couldn’t hold it together with Jerry Jones to put up the records he should have, and then checked out and went fishing. He was as good a talent evaluator as anyone ever, and taught Butch what he knows on that front. He was a great schematic defensive mind, understood motivation, discipline, game planning and how to fit the pieces together. Could have been Saban at UM or Belichick in Dallas. Maybe too intense to hold it together anywhere. But at his peak, there was none better.
 
Miami ran a 5-2 in 1983. Quite frankly the most underrated defense in Miami history is the 1981 team. They played a much tougher regular season schedule and got jobbed twice, first in Austin and second in Starksville. By the end of the year, Miami was the best team in the country.

Defense under JJ did not become what it was until Wanny arrived. He fired Bill Trout. And he did not lose any sleep when Paul Jette left. JJ was a savage as a head coach and had no problem showing an assistant the door.

I'm still looking for who committed that holding penalty in Starksville, and still trying to figure out the phantom illegal motion in Austin. You're correct, at the end of the 1981 season, they would have beaten anybody.

1984 was a disaster on defense, but we were really good in 1985 under Paul Jette, the first true year of the JJ defense (the 40 Slide).

We just got better and better as the years went along.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top