In 1997, after the Dallas Cowboys had already swept their five championships, Jerry Jones brought in a new strength and conditioning coach for The America’s Team– Joe Juraszek. And since his very first day, he knew what he had to be. “Players get bored, I am their conscience.” And from that day to 2010 when he left the team due to health issues, he had done just that.

Joe would sit in the field and study what each and every position coach was making their players do. Later, he would create exercise plans for the players to work those very specific muscles in the gym to build muscle memories. But he did not become one of the most reputed strength and conditioning coaches in the league just with that.

He would sit with the players and understand their work. When the players would be on off, he would call them to make sure they stuck to their diets. Joe did not even leave the medical team out of his quota. He would sit with the staff whenever there was a player injured, noting the whats and whys of their rehabilitation. And if you thought he wouldn’t make them work out with an injury, think again. He would modify the drills to quicken the healing. But there was not one person in the team who would not want Joe to be their strength and conditioning coach.

Greg Shepard of the Bigger, Faster, Stronger magazine remembers it like yesterday. On the day he went for an interview to the Dallas Cowboys office for an article, Leon Lett and Kavika Pittman were on rehabilitation work for some minor injuries. At that time, Joe shouted, “Push yourself to your limit.” In unison, Lett and Pittman would snap their heads towards the trainer at the exact same time and answer, “We don’t have limits.” That was the mantra Joe followed because for him, “If you are lazy and don’t do it in the weight room, you will probably miss some things on the field.”

Although he did not see the Cowboys lift a Super Bowl trophy in his 14-year tenure with them until he retired in 2010 due to health concerns, he became just as permanent in Dallas as Jerry Jones. So as he passed away at 67 years old, the franchise remembers its one of the best strength and conditioning coaches who had changed the Cowboys stars like Darren Woodson and Troy Aikman in his Juraszek Park.

Now, while many are still processing the news, one former player paid his respects. Tony Casillas, who won Super Bowls XVII and XVIII and played a key part in the D-line for the Cowboys ’92 and ’93 championship team, took to X with a heartfelt tribute, “Hey everyone, just wanted to share my condolences. We lost a tremendous tremendous man coach, strength and condition coach Joe Juraszek. Just found out he passed away today and man, this one hurts. Breaks my heart. I’d like to send prayers to his family, Nikki (Jo) his daughter, Joe was a hard worker.

“And his hard worker mentality was simplified in the weight room. When you’re strength and conditioning coach, that’s where your lab is. I met him when I was 17 and owe him so much along with Pete Martinelli, he (Joe) was assistant to Martinelli but man, he was a key component to why we were so good. What a tremendous career he had, from starting with Oklahoma then the Dallas Cowboys. But again, we’ve lost a tremendous man. Rest in Peace, brother. Love you.”

Now here’s the thing, Casillas and Juraszek crossed paths in Dallas, but barely. Casillas’ final NFL season was in 1997, just as Joe was kicking off his Cowboys coaching stint. But before this, Casillas also met him when he was a player for the Oklahoma Sooners, where Joe was an assistant. However, it’s not always about shared locker rooms—sometimes it’s about shared standards. And those Joe standards clearly stuck with those who he trained.

A strength coach by title—he was much more than that to those who knew him. He didn’t just build athletes; he built connections with them. And that shows now.

The news of Joe Juraszek’s passing leaves Dallas in shock

Joe Juraszek wasn’t just the strength coach for the Dallas Cowboys from 1997 to 2010; he was the silent force behind the scenes, working under a carousel of head coaches—Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, and Wade Phillips. That’s four very different eras but only one unshakable standard.

And when players dubbed his weight room “Juraszek Park,” you knew it wasn’t just about the reps, but also the culture he built. Former cornerback Jacques Reeves captured it best: “Best strength & conditioning coach I’ve ever come across, but an even better man!! The vibes he created in the weight room… unmatched.” You can’t coach that. You just are that.

Even Clay Shiver, Cowboys’ starting center, had said back in 1998, “Coach Juraszek is one of the finest strength coaches that I’ve been around. He has taken us to new levels. Coach Juraszek is so good about backing us off when we should and pressing us when we need it.”

Mike McBride, a former Texas Tech player, echoed the hurt: “RIP to the coach for making me bigger, faster and stronger… it hurts my heart that you are gone!” Now, you don’t drop a tribute like that unless someone truly changed your football DNA. Joe didn’t just teach lifts and reps—he taught longevity, respect, and how to grind through Mondays like it’s the Super Bowl.

And the way Coach Joe operated? All business. No spotlight. No mic drop moments. Just precise programming that included four focused muscle groups in five days of physical training—shoulders one day, elbows the next. Yes, elbows. “The elbow in the pro-game has become an injury-prone area,” he once said. Who even thinks of that? Only someone obsessed with keeping players on the field and out of IR. He wasn’t just preparing bodies—he was preserving careers.

One fan put it plain and bold: “The Legend Joe Juraszek has passed away. Former Sooner, Texas Tech and Dallas Cowboy Strength Coach. He was The Man.” You can feel the reverence packed into that short sentence. And it hits different when it’s coming from people who saw him shape players up close—across colleges, across decades.

Another simply wrote: “Rip To The Great Coach Joe Juraszek.” Just truth. So, Joe didn’t need the spotlight to be unforgettable. He lived in the background, but his impact? Front and center. Even after he left the Cowboys in 2010, Jones was quite optimistic as he had said in 2011, “This is a health matter so I think all that’s been said. But I want his future and everybody that I’m associated with, want his future to be with the Dallas Cowboys. We want him doing the same things that he’s always done [and] have no reason to think he won’t be.”

Rest easy, Coach. The weights might’ve stopped clanging, but your grind still echoes.