Jimmy Johnson built a dynasty in Dallas, and to this day, players credit him for the culture that delivered back-to-back Super Bowls. Now, one Cowboys legend is looking back on those years with striking honesty.

“At times Jimmy was crazy as far as the way he motivated people and players, and you look back, like, how did I survive that? That was a form of abuse,” Tony Casillas said on the Sunset Lounge DFW. “But, you look at modern-day football, and you look at what we went through, and really that’s kind of what we needed as a group, and was able to do his thing of just motivating through example, through using different scenarios.”

Johnson became Dallas’ head coach in 1989, and he wasted no time making his presence felt. He was already known as tough and demanding, having just come off a national title run with the Miami Hurricanes. The turnaround was staggering: Dallas went from a dismal 1-15 in Johnson’s first year to 11 wins by year three, then backed it up with two consecutive Super Bowl titles.

By the time he was done, Johnson had joined a short list of just six coaches in league history to win back-to-back Super Bowls. His Cowboys teams were a postseason force, winning seven of eight playoff games.

Get The Huddle Newsletter. The day's biggest NFL stories — rivalries, matchups, expert analysis, power rankings, and insider draft news.

Netflix’s ‘America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys’ captured just how far Johnson took that mentality. He revealed that whenever the Cowboys lost, he’d have the plane crew skip serving food on the flight home.

“After that loss, we get on the plane… the flight attendant starts to serve the meal, and I say, ‘No,” Johnson said. “No meal. They don’t deserve to eat. I wanted ’em to be nauseated, to be sick to their stomach when they lose-because that’s how I felt”

In today’s game, where player wellness and mental health are front and center, a move like that would spark instant backlash both inside the locker room and out. However, the players understood him.

When Johnson brought Casillas to Dallas in 1991, it was a match made for heaven. Casillas was a brutal force on the defense, part of the iconic ‘Doomsday Defense.’ Today, despite the brutal regime in the Johnson era, Casillas is grateful to have played for him.

“I owe a lot to coach Johnson,” Casillas said on Just Wondering with Norm Hitzges. “He saved my football life.”

Just months after winning Super Bowl XXVIII in January 1994, Johnson walked away. It still stings for a lot of people who wonder what could’ve been, especially with a core built around Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin that looked capable of chasing at least two more titles.

Johnson didn’t just coach that team; he built its identity, one uncompromising standard at a time.