Bill Parcells gets too much credit for picking players and turning franchises around. There have been people behind the scenes that have made the decisions that Parcells has ALWAYS taken credit for. Not one press conference have I heard him in his last stops give Player personnel guys their props.
As a coach, I think he's overrated. As a motivator and manipulator, I can't think of anyone else that I would want representing me in a business deal.
The problem with Parcells is that he becomes bigger than what he is and it runs him afoul of people. I never thought that you could one-up a person like Jerry Jones but hey, Bills best friend is Bobby Knight.
Everywhere Parcells has been, he has been lucky to have a couple of superstars that stand out. Parcells just has good assistants who are great coaches. I knew Belichick was a great coach when he masterminded the game plan to stop John Elway in the Super Bowl and slow down Buffalo's K-Gun offense which I thought at the time no one could do.
These guys actually got their pedigree BEFORE they ran into Parcells. Look at the history of Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick and you will see that they were already molded before they got to Parcells staff. They were just no names that needed to coach on an NFL team.
Coughlin was always a tough, detail, disciplined guy. In college at Syracuse, he was called "stoneface" by the teammates who he blocked for.
Which happened to be Floyd Little and Larry Csonka.
Don Shula had a chance to pick up Bill Belichick in the late 1980's. Shula and Belichicks father were good friends but Shula told him no. The one fault that Don Shula had was that he would stay with players and coaches way after they lost their fastball. That's the way that old school coaches were.
Everywhere that Parcells has went, he ends up mad at management for not bowing down to him as far as players. Let's take a look.
Giants - The Mara family hires Parcells in 1981. The Lawrence Taylor pick was a no-brainer because he was hands down, the best defensive player in college football. There was this quarterback named Phil Simms on the team but Parcells wanted his own guy, Scott Brunner. The problem was that Brunner wasn't winning any games and the Giants were going down the tubes. Parcells was stubborn about changing over to Simms because Simms came from the Perkins regime (I hope you're reading this John Beck).
Well, we all know what happened to Brunner and what happened with Phil Simms.
The personnal decisions were basically made by the Mara Family. Of course they took input from the coach but made final decisions on all player acquisitions.
Patriots - Again, picking Drew Bledsoe, when the Patriots needed a franchise quarterback was a no brainer. Brian Fein could have made that call blindfolded.
The bone of contention was that Parcells wanted Tony Brackens and Robert Kraft wanted Terry Glenn. Bledsoe had no reliable receiver to throw the ball to (makes sense if you've got a 6'5 quarterback with a big arm. Get a fast receiver). Parcells gets into it with Kraft. Glenn avenges Parcells by having an outstanding year proving Parcells wrong.
The Patriots get to the Super Bowl and guess what Parcells does in front of the press? Complains about player acquisition, HIS contract, etc. C'mon...YOU"RE IN THE SUPER BOWL AND YOU PLAY THE PACKERS IN FIVE DAYS!! You should be focused on beating the Packers. If you saw Bill's press conference, most of it was him addressing his contract and relationship with Bob Kraft.
Many New England players felt that Parcells should have kept his mouth shut and concentrate on winning the Super Bowl. They knew he didn't have his heart or head in the game.
Jets - Parcells skips over to the Jets brings Curtis Martin with him. Scott Pioli comes on board and they draft Keyshawn Johnson and a bunch of others that would lead the Jets to the AFC Championship game against Denver in 1998. If you look back, you can see Pioli's handprints all over the team. Again, Parcells leaves in a huff because of not having full control of personnel decisions.
Cowboys - Here we go again! Filling the void with veterans like Drew Bledsoe and not wanting to play Tony Romo. Again, Stephen Jones, who is Jerry's son is underrated as far as a personnel guy and handling acquisitions.
Dolphins - We don't know yet. The Dolphins have so many needs so most of the picks are no-brainers. The fault really lies with Wayne H and the previous coaches not having the guts to endure several seasons of being in the dumps while rebuilding at the same time (which Wayne had to do anyway). The closest the Dolphins came to rebuilding was 1996 when Jimmy first came but there was a problem in the plans. His name was Dan Marino. Jimmy couldn't get Marino out because even an old Marino meant great ticket sales.
The one thing that I give Parcells credit for. he would have found a way to get rid of Marino like he did Emmitt Smith in Dallas (who should have retired after he broke Paytons record). Parcells is a rookie in his new office. Parcells is a motivator who motivates by fear. He's the only person I know of that is a throwback to the era of coaches who would not stand for garbage and the players know that.
If Mike Holmgren and Bill Parcells retired at the same time, Holmgren would get in before Parcells. The thing that I like about Holmgren is that he realized that he couldn't be GM and Coach at the same time because it was hurting the team (Seahawks). When he focused strictly on coaching, that's when the Seahawks got it together and went to the Super Bowl against the Steelers.
Hall of Fame? Parcells? Hmm. That's questionable. I say that if he retires and stays retired, he gets in. He's one of those borderline guys like Dan Reeves.
I disagree with Salguero. Whatever happens between Parcells while he's with the Dolphins means nothing.
