Barry Switzer’s place in Dallas Cowboys history is already secured by a Super Bowl victory, but the former head coach still has one major ambition left: to be inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor while he is alive to experience it.
At 89, Switzer has made a direct appeal to team owner Jerry Jones, using an appearance on Dallas sports radio station 96.7 The Ticket to explain the recognition he hopes to receive.
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His request has particular significance because he is the only one of the three Cowboys head coaches to win a Super Bowl who has not been included in the team’s prestigious group.
“When Jerry puts my a– in the ring of honor someday before I die,” Barry Switzer said on 96.7 The Ticket.
“You listening, Jerry? And I’m 89 years old, and I’m going to have Charles Haley put me in. Because Charles Haley, after I was gone, Charles Haley called me and asked me to put him in the ring of honor when I was already out of the way from the Cowboys.”
The comment was both a pointed message to Jones and a reminder of the relationships Switzer formed during his time in Dallas.
His mention of Charles Haley, the former Cowboys defensive star and Ring of Honor member, also suggests that he already has someone in mind to present him with the honour if the team grants his wish.
For Switzer, the issue is not a lack of achievement on the field. He took charge of the Cowboys in 1994, following Jimmy Johnson’s departure, and kept the team among the NFL’s leading contenders.
Across four seasons, Dallas recorded 40 wins and 24 losses, captured three NFC East titles and won Super Bowl XXX after the 1995 campaign.
Switzer’s Super Bowl success contrasts with a difficult exit
Those results make his absence from the Ring of Honor especially striking. Tom Landry, the legendary coach who led Dallas for nearly three decades, received the recognition in 1993.
Johnson, who guided the franchise to consecutive Super Bowl victories in the early 1990s, was finally inducted in 2023 after years of speculation about his relationship with Jones. Switzer remains outside the group despite delivering the franchise’s most recent Super Bowl championship.
Although his championship record makes a strong case for induction, Switzer’s departure from Dallas was far less celebratory than his arrival.
He has previously recalled wanting to leave immediately after winning Super Bowl XXX, only to be persuaded to continue by Larry Lacewell, a trusted figure from his coaching career.
“I honestly wanted to quit after we won the Super Bowl and I should have. [Larry] Lacewell talked me out of it. He said: ‘Jerry put his butt on the line when he brought you in.’ And he was right, so I stayed.
“Two seasons later, we called it the Last Supper. We were in Cincinnati and Jerry was talking about the next season. And he’s all enthusiastic like he is, and Stephen is there, and I look at them and say, “The first thing you’re going to do is fire my ass if we lose tomorrow. You ought to have seen the looks on their faces. I meant it, too. We lost the next day and finished 6-10. I left and went back to Oklahoma with one of the greatest experiences of my life being that time with the Cowboys.”
The 1997 season proved to be Switzer’s last in Dallas. The Cowboys finished 6-10 after a five-game losing streak, and the coach also faced controversy after being arrested for taking a gun through security at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Jones fined him $75,000 following the incident. Switzer subsequently left the NFL and did not coach another professional team.
His final season stands in sharp contrast to his extraordinary record at Oklahoma. Across 16 seasons with the Sooners, Switzer compiled a 157-29-4 record, won three national championships and claimed 12 conference titles.
He never suffered a losing season in Norman, cementing his reputation as one of college football’s most successful coaches.
That wider career is an important part of the argument for recognising Switzer in Dallas. His achievements extended beyond one championship season, and he helped preserve the Cowboys’ winning standards after Johnson’s departure.
His 1995 team defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX, delivering the franchise its fifth Super Bowl title and what remains its most recent championship.
The question now is whether Jones will respond to Switzer’s public request. The Cowboys owner eventually honoured Johnson in 2023, demonstrating that the Ring of Honor can remain open to figures whose relationships with the organisation have had complicated chapters.
Johnson’s induction also highlighted the importance of the recognition to those who helped shape the franchise’s most successful era.
Switzer has made clear that he wants to be there to see his own name added, with Haley involved in the ceremony.
Whether Jones agrees remains to be seen, but the former coach’s appeal has put the decision back in the spotlight.
For a man who delivered a Super Bowl to Dallas and built a legendary college career, the Ring of Honor would be a final acknowledgement from the franchise he helped keep at the top of the NFL.