Before Bill Belichick won the most Super Bowls of any coach in history, he was a fired coach looking for a second chance.
After the Browns fired Belichick following the 1995 season, he ran into Cowboys owner Jerry Jones at a ski resort. The Cowboys were coming off their fifth and most recent Super Bowl title.
That much Belichick and Jones agree on. From there, the two have different memories of their chance meeting.
Jones said on his radio show Tuesday that Belichick made a pitch for a job.
“Bill Belichick said, ‘I can coach. If you ever get an opportunity, don’t forget about me,’” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “I’ve thought about that many times. You never know where you can find a great coach. You can find them in a ski checkout line sometimes.”
The Cowboys moved on from Barry Switzer after the 1997 season but hired Chan Gailey and then Dave Campo before Belichick coached his first game for the Patriots.
Belichick recounted the encounter, though he didn’t “quite remember it the way Jerry described it, but he’s probably got a better memory than I do.”
“Yeah, I was out in Snowmass,” Belichick said. “I was out there with the family, and Jerry, he’s got on a big white jacket with a blue star, coming off a couple Super Bowl victories out there. But yeah, Jerry and the Jones [family] have always been great to me, always had a great relationship with them. When Jimmy [Johnson] was the coach down there, I was at Cleveland – AFC, NFC, it wasn’t really much competition there. So, we were involved in a few trades and, you know, offseason conversations, things like that. Still, from where we are and where they are, there’s not a lot of direct competition. It’s a team that we’ve worked with before.
“But, yeah, I have all the respect in the world for Jerry. He’s totally committed to winning. That organization’s committed to winning. Stephen [Jones] does a great job with their organization and personnel, and Jason does a great job on the coaching end. I spend a lot of time talking to those guys at various owners meetings or workouts or, you know, what have you.”
The Cowboys have had four head coaches and no Super Bowl titles since Belichick became the Patriots head coach.