Editor’s note: The following column from the Best of West collection was originally published in the Port Arthur News on Feb. 26, 1989.

Come late December, it won’t be difficult to decide on Texas’ biggest sports story for 1989. Matter of fact, Jimmy Johnson succeeding Tom Landry as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys could well rank No. 1 for the decade of the 1980s.

As big a story as the sale of the Cowboys is, it’s happened before. Tom Landry, however, has never been replaced. He is, as they always seem to mention on game telecasts, the only coach the Cowboys have ever had. Or he was until Saturday night.

My guess is that every major newspaper in Texas will play the story on its front page. Nationally, it’ll KO the Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno heavyweight fight. Other than the Super Bowl, it’ll get more ink and more television time than any story pertaining to the National Football League.

Like it or not, you’re going to be reading about this one for days to come. It’s not often a living legend is shoved out the door.

Jimmy Johnson was a household name to America’s football fans, as head coach of the Miami Hurricanes. Now, as the man who replaced tom Landry, he’s instantly become even bigger. And, next to Johnson and the Cowboys, the biggest winner is Port Arthur.

That’s right, Port Arthur. When it became obvious on Friday that the 1961 Thomas Jefferson graduate was hours away from becoming the Cowboys’ second head coach, the Associated Press in Dallas called. It wanted hometown reaction and background stories on Johnson for distribution on the national wire.

By late Saturday night every Associated Press member newspaper in America should have had in its computers stories on Port Arthurans reaction to one of their own being head coach of the Cowboys. Also available was a story on Johnson as a youth, and his playing days at TJ.

Port Arthur got considerable mileage out of Johnson’s success in Miami, and the national championship roast for him here in May. We’ll get even more residual value with JJ being head coach of one of the most glamorous franchises in professional sports.

Especially when he brings the Cowboys back to the top.

Notice I said when, not if. There’s no doubt here it’s just a matter of time until Jimmy has Dallas back knocking at the Super Bowl door. Everywhere the guy goes, good things tend to happen. It’s called being a winner.

He played for a national champion at Arkansas and coached one at Miami. In between, he revived a probation-ridden program at Oklahoma State and made it respectable. Five points is all that stands between Johnson and three consecutive national titles.

As Cowboys vice president Gil Brandt said, when he was in for the Johnson roast, “Jimmy has won, won, won. They talk about parity in college football, but what his teams have done doesn’t look like parity. He’s at the very top of the profession.”

Over the past 12 months or so, Jimmy has been the hottest property in coaching. He’s not only led college football in wins, but in rumors of where he’d coach next. At one time or another he was rumored headed to the Cowboys, Eagles, Chargers and 49ers.

It was more than rumor that San Francisco owner Edward DeBartolo wanted Johnson to succeed Bill Walsh, when Walsh retired after the Super Bowl. DeBartolo, though, was pressured by Walsh to hire his top aide, George Seifert. One day it’s a move he’ll regret.

Johnson, to be sure, has an adjustment to make in jumping from the college game to the NFL. It’s an adjustment that’s overwhelmed some who’ve tried to make it. Lou Holtz, for instance, was a disaster with the New York Jets and wound up leaving in the middle of a season.

Dick Vermeil, on the other hand, was a huge success with the Philadelphia Eagles, taking them to a Super Bowl in his fifth year. Johnson will make the change as easily as Vermeil, if not better. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see him, like Vermeil, ultimately wind up as a television analyst.

Bet the ranch Jimmy Johnson won’t make one mistake Tom Landry did. He won’t stay too long. Johnson’s too smart for that. He’ll stay long enough to win a Super Bowl, then move up to the front office or television.

Jimmy’s a different breed of cat than 99 percent of the people in the coaching business. He’s champagne, caviar and Madison Avenue. He rubs shoulders in the off-season with the likes of Donald Trump. He loves life in the fast lane almost as much as he loves winning.

A lot of guys would be timid, perhaps even reluctant to follow a Tom Landry. Especially if Landry was being booted out. Especially if they were totally unproven in the NFL. Not Jimmy Johnson.

This is a man who thrives on challenge, who wants to scale the highest mountain, then find an even more difficult challenge. This is a man who was ready to follow Bill Walsh in San Francisco, on the heels of Walsh’s third Super Bowl title of the 1980s.

Truth is, there couldn’t be a better time to replace Landry. Oh, there’s going to be some negative feedback by those who cry that Landry deserves better, but that’ll quickly fade. When a $140 million transaction is involved, there’s not much room for sentiment. Or a coach whose time had passed.

The Dallas Cowboys desperately needed new blood, a new look, a new personality. They were no longer America’s Team, they were Yesterday’s Team. They were a team whose fans had grown weary of living in the past.

Now, with Jimmy Johnson calling the shots, pencil them in as Tomorrow’s Team.

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.