Troy Aikman can pinpoint the exact moment his already-strained relationship with Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer passed the point of no return during their second campaign together in 1995.
When reflecting on his rocky rapport with Switzer in the newly released Netflix docuseries “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys,” which examined the Cowboys’ rise and their controversies in the 1990s, the Hall of Fame quarterback recalled a meeting with Switzer following a Week 14 loss to Washington, when Aikman allegedly chewed out wide receiver Kevin Williams over dropped passes, culminating in an accusation from Jimmy Johnson’s successor that put the “final nail” in their relationship.
“He said, ‘There are some players that are saying that you only yell at Black players,’ is what he … is what he said… and I said, ‘That’s bulls–t. If a player’s not doing what he’s supposed to do, I didn’t give two s–ts as to what color he was.’ I mean, I was upset,” Aikman said in episode six of the series, which dropped Tuesday on the streaming platform.
Switzer, who replaced Johnson as coach of the Cowboys in a league-wide shocker a season prior, said he was “really bothered” by what Aikman allegedly relayed to Williams, who is Black.
“I said, ‘You know, what was said really bothered me, and I think you really need to apologize. I think it’s important that you do that,’” Switzer said.
Aikman, long frustrated with Switzer’s relaxed coaching style, remarked that the Switzer he knew at Oklahoma — where he played from 1984-85 before transferring to UCLA — was not the same man who arrived in Dallas in 1994.
“I went to Oklahoma with a coach who was pretty intense. He was every bit as intense as Jimmy,” Aikman said of Johnson, with whom he won two Super Bowls in 1992 and ’93. “… But the Barry that came to Dallas, he was totally different.”
The remaining ties Aikman had with Switzer, who stated the pair “started to have problems” because the quarterback wanted his coach “to be Jimmy,” were “severed” after that fateful exchange.
“I think Barry thought that I would just accept that and then just go on down the road. Of course, whether it was [wide receiver] Michael [Irvin] of [defensive end Charles] Haley or any of the others, I mean, they said it was a bunch of BS as well,” Aikman said.
“… That was the final nail that severed our relationship.”
Irvin and Haley, who both appeared in the docuseries, vouched for Aikman, 58.
“S–t, if Troy was a racist, me and him would’ve had problems a long time ago,” Haley, 61, said while Irvin, 59, expressed, “There’s a lot of places you wanna go, you go. But this … this is not one you can even go anywhere near Troy with.”
As the Cowboys continued their climb to the NFL mountaintop — with splashy free-agent signing Deion Sanders along for the ride this time — tensions were rising within the team.
“Before, it was us against the world, and now, the against us was inside our locker room,” Irvin said.
When the Cowboys eventually punched their ticket to a showdown against the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX, the drama followed the team to Tempe, Ariz.
In the lead-up to the big game, a story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram outlined the fracture between Aikman and Switzer, including racial allegations made against the star quarterback.
“The biggest regret I have with the Cowboys was my relationship with Troy,” Switzer said. “All I wanted to do was make us better. But at this point in time, there wasn’t anything to talk about. We have to overcome it, and we have to move on from it. We can’t reschedule the season.”
With a third Super Bowl title in four seasons on the line, conflicts were put aside for 60 minutes as the Cowboys mounted a thrilling 27-17 victory.
“Winning in that Super Bowl, when I talk about ’93 feeling like a relief, ’95 was just exasperation,” Aikman said.
The glory days in Dallas began to dwindle after the 1995 championship, with the Cowboys wrapping the 1996 season at 10-6 and losing in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
In 1997, Switzer’s fourth and final year at the helm, the Cowboys plummeted to 6-10.
Switzer, now 87, resigned at the end of the season.
Aikman played all 12 years of his NFL career with the Cowboys before retiring at the end of the 2000 season.
He and Joe Buck have been in the “Monday Night Football” booth on ESPN since 2022 after a successful 20-year run at Fox.
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