‘Boston’s a great sports town’: Bill Parcells on the Patriots, Bill Belichick, and the modern NFL
The former New England coach weighed in on his longtime assistant's future.
Few people in football have a better perspective on both the Patriots and Bill Belichick than Bill Parcells.
The 82-year-old retired coach employed Belichick as a defensive assistant with multiple teams during his Hall of Fame career, including in New England during the 1996 run to Super Bowl XXXI.
So as Parcells views Belichick’s exit from the Patriots — and potential pursuit of another NFL head coaching role — what’s his take?
“I wouldn’t give him any advice, I really wouldn’t,” Parcells told Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy in a recent interview. “He’s been around long enough to know what he wants to do, and I really don’t have any idea what that is. All I know is, he’s a football lifer and he’s shown that.”
Still, Parcells understood Belichick’s desire to avoid retirement despite being 71.
“Coaching can be a narcotic for guys like us. I can put Pete Carroll and Bill in there,” Parcells explained, referencing the 72-year-old Carroll (who recently parted ways with the Seahawks).
Noting that he hopes Belichick “does whatever makes him happy,” Parcells said he thinks his former assistant will be “looking for a situation that he thinks is conducive to winning.”
One of the interesting realities for Parcells as he looks out at the current state of the NFL is that his former players are now occupying coaching roles.
Though he coached in an earlier era, the two-time Super Bowl winner still relishes the chance to watch each week.
“I never didn’t like the game,” Parcells told Shaughnessy. “I still like it. I watched all last weekend and this weekend. I’ve got four guys that either played or coached for me coaching against each other in the Tampa-Detroit game.
“Todd Bowles [Buccaneers head coach] worked for me in Dallas and Kacy Rodgers [Buccaneers defensive line coach], I brought him into the league,” he added. “And now they’re playing Dan Campbell [Lions head coach] and Aaron Glenn [Lions defensive coordinator], who were my players.”
Looking back at Boston — a place he left the Patriots in acrimonious circumstances — Parcells nonetheless remains appreciative of local fans’ passion.
“Boston’s a great sports town,” said Parcells. “They like their hockey, basketball, baseball. They like everything. You couldn’t be a coach in a better place. Nothing lasts forever, but what Bill and the Patriots did there in New England was remarkable.”
For Parcells’s full remarks, check out Shaughnessy’s column (which also includes Dodgers trivia).
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