Security a team necessityBy Jarrett Bell, USA TODAYWhen Jimmy Johnson coached the Dallas Cowboys and later the Miami Dolphins, he was like the fireman waiting on the alarm. A flame involving off-the-field exploits of players always seemed to be as close as next door.

With a sometimes combustible mix of immaturity, ego, money, women, alcohol and even drugs posing a threat to his business of football, Johnson got to be close to his security directors. With the Cowboys, it was ex-FBI agent Ben Nix. In Miami, it was former private investigator Stu Weinstein.

"I can't count the number of times they came to me with things that were going to happen," Johnson said this week. "They would get wind of the party before it happened."

The security directors were so valuable because of their contacts with local law enforcement agencies and the information that flowed from them. Johnson was once told a player was hanging at a house where drugs were sold.

"You know that's going to lead to something bad," Johnson said. "But rather than talking to the whole team about it, I grabbed the individual player."

Johnson stops short of blaming Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice — who got in hot water himself this year for scalping Super Bowl tickets — for the incident now under investigation by authorities: a party cruise that allegedly included 17 Vikings players and women hired for sex acts.

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