Retirement is tough for any athlete. What does it look like for the greatest bull rider of all time? Cowboy-turned-coach J.B. Mauney talks about the arena glory days, his decision to call it quits, and the new challenges of coaching a team.
It was 2005, and 18-year-old bull rider J.B. Mauney couldn’t shake the feeling that something was growing inside him. He knew the pain’s origins, of course. The previous night, at an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, a bucking bull weighing roughly 1,500 pounds (give or take a couple hundred) had stomped on Mauney’s chest. Yet as recounted by Sports Illustrated, Mauney made the kind of decision that has cemented his status as the GOAT and the epitome of cowboy grit: He didn’t go to the hospital; he just went home.
There are many Mauney stories like this. At a time when bull riders meditate and do yoga, these tales — which all ring true when you meet the chain-smoking, rail-thin, real deal in the flesh — are at once nostalgic and aspirational. The young Mauney did eventually go to the hospital, because even the toughest cowboys can’t survive long with a lacerated liver. That said, emergency surgery and talk of near-death wasn’t enough to discourage him from riding bulls. Sure, he listened to the doctors and gave it up for a little bit — but only for four of the eight months they requested. He’d go on to ride over 500 more bulls, winning two world championships and notching the second-most 90-point rides in the history of Professional Bull Riders (PBR). In fact, It would take another 18 years, countless injuries big and small and a literal broken neck — not to mention a wife and a son — for the man known as “the dragonslayer” to finally hang up his boots.
Mauney retired from riding in 2023, having earned more money in PBR than any other cowboy. In the 18 months since, he has stayed busy, thanks mostly to his gig coaching the Oklahoma Wildcatters, a PBR bull riding team (see January 2025 issue: “One Tough Bull.”)
Yet he is still chasing the thrill of the ride, even though he knows coaching, commentating and everything else will ever be able to size up.
“The coaching deal is fun,” he tells Cowboys & Indians. “That's what keeps me involved. At the same time, it’s the most stressful thing I’ve ever done. I would rather be riding.”
“You Better Be All About It”
The smoke from his cigarette briefly obscures the screen, so he waves it away, intent on his audience getting the full picture. It’s early summer 2024, and Mauney is showing friends and visitors some footage of his five-year-old son, Jagger Briggs, riding calves at a Mauney family property in Stephenville.
The kid has the wavy blond hair of his mother, Samantha Lyne (a former barrel racer and daughter to legendary cowboy Phil Lyne) and in one video, he smiles all the way to the ground, holding on even as the calf starts to drag him in the dirt. Pride is plastered on the father’s face: Between drags on his smoke, Mauney flashes a toothy grin and shakes his head in admiration. Even still, he is quick to note that his son — while already popular on Instagram — is still far too young for any “next J.B.” talk.
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“Maybe he’ll ride, or maybe he’ll play piano or something,” he says. “Either way, I’ll be proud of him.”
In a way, this is similar to the ethos he is trying to establish with the Wildcatters, one of PBR’s newest teams: Once you decide what you’re going to do, you need to put your whole heart into it. In the case of bull riding, that also means risking your body — and even your life — with every single outing.
Mauney was interviewed by Cowboys & Indians multiple times, including in the days before Christmas 2024, after the Wildcatters had wrapped up a year full of ups and downs. In this final interview, reflecting on his first year as a coach, he was his most somber.
On the one hand, the season was a success. His team, largely comprised of extremely young riders, finished ahead of the other 2024 expansion team in the final standings. But Mauney wants much more. He wants a dynasty, and he knows that starts with him.
In other words, while adjusting to life as a retired rider, Mauney is also trying to figure out what his rub-some-dirt-on-it style means for coaching sports in 2024.
“I probably held back more than I should have,” he says. He wasn’t easy on his guys, not by a long shot. But he didn’t want to push them too hard, either.
"He kinda just acts like he's one of the guys, riding with us,” says Clay Guiton, a 19-year-old Wildcatter. Guiton adds that, at one point before an event, another PBR coach came into the Wildcatters’ locker room to ask if they’d turn down the music. This fun-loving style is unlikely to change, but Mauney says he plans to be a bit stricter.
For example, additional practices on his Stephenville property will be mandatory, not just encouraged.
“Next year, one of two things is gonna happen: They’re either gonna win everything, or they’re not gonna like me very much,” he says. “Not everybody is gonna go at bull riding the same way I did, but If you’re gonna do it, you better be all about it.”
‘Til The Grave
Bull riders can often compete into their late 30s — especially if they’re as talented as Mauney. Plus, in his late 20s and early 30s, when many men are settling down and having a kid or two, “the dragonslayer” was winning world titles and burnishing his rep as the guy who wanted to ride the rankest bulls in the world.
“That’s one reason I didn’t retire earlier: I didn’t miss out on raising kids,” he says.
Even still, after Jagger was born in 2019, Mauney kept riding in PBR events or at rodeos organized by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), an older, more staid sports league. He was riding in a PRCA event on September 6, 2023, when a bull named Arctic Assassin bucked him off and broke his neck.
This time the doctors’ prognosis was even more dire. If you land on your head again, they told him, you’ll likely experience one of two outcomes: Death, or life in a wheelchair. Mauney knew it was time to retire, and in a podcast interview, he’d later say that the “hardest part” was explaining to Jagger that his riding career was over.
After surgery in an Idaho hospital near the neck-breaking wreck, Mauney, his wife, and his son piled in their RV for the 28-hour road trip to Texas.
“Where we going?” Jagger asked. “Next rodeo?”
“No, buddy,” Mauney replied. “Those days are over with.”
Jagger ultimately understood, and he and his dad have had fun spending more time together in Stephenville. That’s where Mauney lives and cares for what he calls “a pile” of bulls, occasionally selling some to stock contractors across the country. The pile includes Arctic Assassin, who Mauney offered to buy but eventually was given as a gift. (In other words, he owns and cares for the hulking beast that broke his neck and ended his career.)
Mauney has plenty of other ventures, too: He frequently offers color commentary at PBR events, and he plans to add more event lighting to one of his two Stephenville properties so he can host bull riding events at nighttime.
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Then, of course, there’s the coaching. The Wildcatters’ second season, which starts in the summer, will likely take up even more of his time and energy as he tries to improve his squad. It won’t get easier, and Mauney knows that “itch” will still be there — that yearning to be on the back of the bull, not just coaching.
“If a guy gets bucked off, I can’t do nothing about it,” he says.
He pauses before adding, “The day they put me in the grave, I’ll still be wanting to get on bulls.”
Discover more about “the dragonslayer” in our February/March 2025 cover story.
