Jimmy Johnson

With each new major collegiate football coaching opening, the name of Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson comes up as a possible replacement--and there is now talk that he may replace Ted Tollner at USC. "In this business, you always have to have an open mind," Johnson told The Miami News. "Those are the cold, hard facts."

There's one more reason why 2013 already is a year to remember for Jimmie Johnson. The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion announced Tuesday on Twitter that he and his wife Chandra are expecting their second child. "We are so happy to share news that we're having another baby in September," Johnson tweeted. "Genevieve is so excited to be a big sister!" Johnson's daughter Genevieve will be 3 in July. The announcement came two days after Johnson won for the eighth time at Martinsville (Va.)

Jimmy Johnson recently stood for 90 minutes before a room full of Texas sports editors and gave a thoughtful answer to every question asked. A year ago, the Cowboys coach might not have stayed 90 seconds. NFL success has given Johnson a chance to relax around his critics. He no longer feels like he has to examine each question with a mine detector for hidden explosives.

During his remarkable career that includes five consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup titles, Jimmie Johnson has calmly endured an undercurrent of hostility from some fans who find his winning ways, well, a turnoff. But with the help of Twitter, Johnson is firing back at his critics. After winning the Cup race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the eighth time Sunday, Johnson sarcastically tweeted: "You haters have it right. I'm a bad teammate. I have a cheated up car, I'm lucky and the race was fixed.

Just because NFL has been quiet doesn't mean people aren't whispering. . . . --Word is, nobody is going to be a bigger target this year than Jimmy Johnson and his Miami Dolphins. Perhaps because Johnson is already popping off. "We will win, there's no doubt in my mind that we will win," said Johnson at the coach's breakfast during the recently completed owner's meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. He looked around the room. "In all honesty, there's 29 others [coaches] here, and they all know . . .

There has been speculation for some time in the NFL that Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson is tiring, with an eye on retiring in the next year or two. Thursday he provided another telling clue. Johnson traded the Dolphins' No. 1 pick in the 2000 NFL draft to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a second-round choice (43rd overall) in Saturday's draft, giving him ammunition to go after Oakland free-agent defensive lineman Chester McGlockton.

Phillip Trapp, retired chairman of the University of Arkansas psychology department, said he couldn't say for sure if James William Johnson was "an A, B, C, D or F" student. "But's it like I told all our psychology majors at the time," Trapp said by phone from Fayetteville on Monday. "Other things being equal, you should have an edge in dealing with people." Dallas 38, San Francisco 21.

While tinkering with rules and realignment, NFL officials were reminded Wednesday of one delightful part of their game that never changes. America's Feud. The Johnsons versus the Joneses. Coach Jimmy Johnson is fighting again with Jerry Jones, owner of the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. Their most recent battle, perhaps their juiciest, involves red wine, a hotel bar, a toast gone bad, and a coach gone home. "I think (our relationship) is excellent," Jones said, with a smile.

Jimmy Johnson, the lacquer-haired coach who fell short of his goal of taking the Miami Dolphins to the Super Bowl in his third season, is leaving the profession, his father said late Wednesday. "Jimmy told me he was ready to retire and wanted to start enjoying himself," C.W. Johnson told the Associated Press from his home in Port Arthur, Texas. "He said the season wore on him. . . . "This is it for him in coaching.

Where: Bookstores everywhere. Somewhere in my parents' garage sits an electric football set with the Miami Dolphins and the Minnesota Vikings. (I can still hear the buzzing). Somewhere next to it are mint-condition cards of Paul Warfield, Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris and Bob Griese, among others. There's also a No. 12 Griese jersey which is so authentic it has been retired just like Bob's. Such is my legacy as a Dolphin fan.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As the cars barreled into the final lap, there was a chance the improbable might happen at the Daytona 500. Jimmie Johnson, the five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, led the field with Greg Biffle on his tail and Danica Patrick stuck to Biffle's rear bumper. If Patrick could find a way to maneuver around Johnson and Biffle, Patrick would become the first woman to win the sport's crown-jewel race, in only her second attempt. But for as strongly as Patrick ran Sunday, at the end her inexperience showed.

Jimmie Johnson won NASCAR's Daytona 500 for the second time by holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second, on Sunday. Danica Patrick finished eighth, the highest finish in history for a woman in the Daytona 500, but she was poised to finish higher. As the field started the final lap, Johnson was leading Greg Biffle and Patrick was third. But as the cars made their final trip around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, several cars passed Patrick. Another group of cars behind the leaders crashed on the final lap, but NASCAR did not throw the yellow flag and let Johnson and the others race to the checkered flag.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — NASCAR's future and its old guard etched their way into NASCAR history Sunday with a dash of champagne, a trickle of tears, and a little bit of a beer buzz. Brad Keselowski, a 28-year-old who rose from the abyss of a family bankruptcy, and owner Roger Penske, a 75-year-old motorsports icon, rose together as NASCAR's wonderful odd couple. A kid who feels naked without his cellphone, who tweets incessantly, coupled with a man who has spent a good portion of his life on a rotary phone.

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jimmie Johnson crashed during the NASCAR race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, jeopardizing his bid to win a sixth Sprint Cup Series championship. Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet crashed into the outside wall in Turn 4 on Lap 234 of the 312-lap race after it appeared the car's right front tire blew or the car had some sort of braking malfunction. Johnson's crew took the car to the garage for repairs. Making matters worse for Johnson, his closest competitor for the title, Brad Keselowski, had just taken the race lead moments before Johnson's accident.

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The backlash among NASCAR's faithful resurfaced almost instantly. No sooner had Jimmie Johnson won the race at Martinsville, Va., two weeks ago, and taken the points lead in the Sprint Cup Series than the outcry began that this was, somehow, bad news. Johnson is trying to win his sixth Cup championship — an achievement only two other drivers have accomplished — in the last seven years. And that had a good many NASCAR watchers grumbling in the blogosphere, social media circles and on Internet message boards.

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Dale Earnhardt Jr. is Jimmie Johnson's teammate and Brad Keselowski's former boss, so who does Earnhardt see winning this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup? "I think Jimmie is going to win it" for a sixth championship, Earnhardt said Friday. Johnson has "great equipment . . . one of the best crew chiefs in the business" in Chad Knaus, and Johnson "is one of the best drivers in the business. " "It's going to be hard to beat those guys," Earnhardt said. Johnson has a seven-point lead over Keselowski in the title standings with two races left: Sunday's AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway and the season finale a week later at Homestead-Miami (Fla.)

They repeated Buddy Ryan's line about the absence of East Carolinas--that is, pushovers--in the pros. Then they laughed and poked each other in the NFL-good-old-boy ribs. They even made fun of Jimmy Johnson's hair. And when Johnson suffered through "the most miserable year of my life, both personally and professionally" as the Cowboys went 1-15 during his first year as head coach, the league's old guard exchanged told-you-so snickers. But who's crying now?

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Brad Keselowski not only is a talented NASCAR driver, he's also confident, aggressive and self-assured. Good thing, because standing between Keselowski and his first Sprint Cup Series championship is perhaps the most daunting challenge he could face: Jimmie Johnson. Johnson, seeking a remarkable sixth Cup title in the last seven years, has a seven-point lead over Keselowski in the title standings with two races left, starting with Sunday's AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

NASCAR and five-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, along with Johnson's team and one of his main sponsors, are helping send relief to victims of super storm Sandy. Johnson, who's racing for a sixth title this season, felt the impact of Sandy first-hand because the lower floors of his New York apartment were flooded and the building remained closed. "So it's impacted us in a small way, to many others in a much greater capacity," Johnson told reporters Friday at Texas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday's next Sprint Cup race.