Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently recounted a story from 1996 when he ran into Bill Belichick at a ski resort in Colorado.

Belichick, at the time, was coming off his final season as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

So he apparently shot his shot with Jones, who told this story on a Dallas sports radio show on Tuesday:

“I’ll never forget, I was skiing after our season was over,” Jones said. “I was renting skis for my grandkids, and there was a line. I’m sitting in the back and somebody bumps up against me a few times. I turned around and it was this guy, I couldn’t (make out who he was) because he had his ski stuff on and goggles and of course it was Bill. “He no longer had a job. He had been with Cleveland and they’d let him go up there. He said, ‘Listen, I can coach. If you ever get an opportunity, don’t forget about me.’ I’ve thought about that many times. You never know when you can find a great coach. You can find him in a ski checkout line sometimes.”

Well things certainly could have changed for the NFL if Jones ever took Belichick up on that offer. Barry Switzer was the coach of the Cowboys at the time of that story, but his last year with the team was in 1997. Then they turned to Chan Gailey for two seasons before going with Dave Campo for a few years. Bill Parcells took over in 2003.

Belichick, who has since gone on to win six Super Bowls with the Patriots and is the best coach in NFL history, told his side of the story on Wednesday. He said Jones probably had a better memory of what was said but he did enjoy running into the Jones on the ski slopes:

Jones and the Cowboys face Belichick and the Patriots on Sunday in New England, which should be a fun one.

But oh how different things might have been…