Before Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made good money in the oil industry, he once dreamt of being the coach of a football team.
Jones played running back in his high school at North Little Rock before becoming an offensive lineman when he went to Arkansas and co-captained the 1964 team to the national championship.
What Made Jerry Jones Opt Out of Coaching Career?
After graduating from college in 1965, Jones had multiple paths laid down for him. He could have opted to become the coach of the football team; however, the salary at the time for the coach wasn’t good enough to satisfy Jones.
“I loved football so much, and I loved sports so much,” Jones told Joe Buck in an interview in November 2023. “I would have been a coach, but I saw what coaches made, and I wanted to do better than that.”
Soon, Jones joked that knowing what salary he’s paying his coaches at the Cowboys nowadays, he would have become one.
“Now, had I known what I’d be paying them now, I’d have been a damn coach!” Jones added.
Jones Was Always a Businessman
While playing for the University of Arkansas’ national championship-winning team in 1964, Jones took advantage of multiple entrepreneurial opportunities.
“What I did do during those years was take advantage of things students could do to make money,” Jones said. “I sold shoes — sold them out of catalogs to fraternities and to the men at school. I also sold insurance to people in what’s now known as Fayetteville, Arkansas, and throughout northern Arkansas.
“And then, on game day, I would sell tickets. We had a great team, and our tickets went for $7 each. But because we were playing so well, guess what? You could sell them for $20. In some places, that’s called scalping, and in some places, it’s okay. It was okay to do that at that particular time.”
Amid all this pregame hustle, it taught Jones one thing. He emphasized that his ventures helped him learn how to make ends meet and make the most of the money he earned.
“But, Joe, it taught me something — how to keep your eye on the ball while playing football, and at the same time, how to figure out a way to make ends meet. My wife and I were already married, and we had my son, Stephen, during those years when I was in school. We hit the ground running, and I guess it was meant for me to be involved in both sports and business — because that’s exactly how I did it in college,” Jones added.
Despite his early desire to coach, Jones found another way to leave his mark on football. After making his fortune in oil and gas investments, he purchased the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. Under his leadership, the team won three Super Bowls in the 1990s and became the most valuable franchise in North American sports.
Success has been harder to come by in the three decades since, but Jones has proven to be unique in his ability to maximize profits and constantly keep the spotlight of the football world squarely on the Cowboys.