Jerry Jones has been the owner of the Dallas Cowboys for 35 years now. He bought the team when he was 46. He’s 81 years old now. Even as far back as 10 years ago, there was a conversation about what would happen to the team when he eventually steps down. Surely that moment must be getting closer…right? As a Cowboys fan, it’s hard not to say “I hope so!”

In 1989, Jones came in and ruthlessly fired our beloved coach, Tom Landry. We learned to love the completely inexperienced Jimmy Johnson, who miraculously brought us to two Super Bowl victories, and then Jerry fired him, too. But even still, we were able to get a third Super Bowl win in four years by 1995, so we bit our tongues…for a little while.

Fast forward to today. After the dynasty of the 1990s, it’s been almost three decades since the Cowboys won a Super Bowl or NFC Championship game. Besides creating a brand worth $9 billion, the best Jerry can say the Cowboys have done in the last 27 years is made it to the playoffs a few times, only to be eliminated immediately or with very few exceptions (four to be exact), almost immediately.

The thing is – during those first two Super Bowl wins under Johnson’s coaching, it was he who helped build the roster of stars that even Barry Switzer was able to take over and lead to victory one time. But Jerry couldn’t handle allowing Johnson the kind of control (and credit) he wanted, and so he fired him. And he’s never given another coach full control since then either. He made himself the general manager and refuses to hire anyone else to do that job.

So although the Cowboys have done exactly nothing in almost 30 years, the man who’s responsible for running the team cannot be fired. The only way that Jerry Jones is no longer the owner and therefore general manager of the Dallas Cowboys is if he either steps down or dies. But then what?