On January 28, 1996, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 to earn their fifth Super Bowl title. The roster was loaded and it looked like the Cowboys were going to win the NFC for the foreseeable future. It was the Cowboys’ third Super Bowl in four years, but first since Jimmy Johnson was let go following a clash of egos with Jerry Jones.

In 1993, Jones decided that he wanted more control of personnel decisions after relinquishing all power to Johnson. The head coach refused to give it up which led to some tension between the two. Then following the Cowboys’ victory in Super Bowl XXVII, Jones told the media that any head coach could’ve won with that roster which was an obvious shot at Johnson.

Johnson would decide to leave the Cowboys following back-to-back Super Bowl victories in March of 1994 as the two couldn’t coexist. Jones would then hire University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to coach the Cowboys, but Jones would retain all the power to make personnel decisions.

Switzer was able to lead a star-studded Cowboys roster to a 12-4 record during the 1995 season, but they would lose in the NFC Championship Game to the San Francisco 49ers. There is no doubt in my mind that the Cowboys would’ve won another Super Bowl that season had Johnson still been the head coach.

In 1996, Switzer would lead the club to an identical 12-4 record, but the Cowboys would win Super Bowl XXX over the Steelers. From that point forward, the Cowboys have yet to return to the Super Bowl.

Since Switzer departed in 1997, Jones has had Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett all in charge of the roster that he puts together. The only coach to challenge him since is Parcells and it led to his firing as well.

In the last few years, Jones has allowed his son, Stephen, to have more input on personnel decisions, but he’s maintained final say. That decision to maintain personnel control has led to 20 years of suffering for Cowboys fans and likely more as it seems the window has closed on this current team and he seems no closer to hiring an actual general manager.

At the Senior Bowl on Wednesday, Jones expressed surprise at the Cowboys’ struggles:

“Well, I saw how we got there for the first three that I was involved with,” Jones said via the Dallas Morning News. “I’m the most surprised person in Mobile, or the country, that we haven’t been back to and competed in a Super Bowl. But I know firsthand that you can go from the outhouse to the penthouse, and I’ve experienced it. Consequently, that fact has always driven me to know that it’s just around the corner. There’s a pony in here somewhere.”

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”