Parcell's coaching tree talks about their old boss

[JMFP]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/sfl-hyde-parcells-tree-s092109sbsep21,0,3459602,full.column

 

Members of Bill Parcells' coaching tree credit Dolphins' bossDave Hyde

 

Sports Columnist

 

September 21, 2009

 

"My whole life I've always had some guys. You gotta have some guys. That's probably one of the fears when I get older: That I won't have any guys."

— Bill Parcells in 2006 interview

 

"Are you kidding? He's got more guys than anyone," Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley says.

 

"Just look at his coaching tree," New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton says.

 

"Is Sean on Bill's tree?" New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin says. "I guess that's how big it is. I don't even know everyone on it."

 

"His voice stays with all of us," former Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel says.

 

"The desk plate in front of me came from him," Virginia coach Al Groh says. "I'm looking at it now. 'Just coach the team,' it says. Shortly after I'd become coach of the New York Jets, Bill came in, sat down and asked, 'Do you really care what people think?' I paused and said, 'Other than in matters of morality and integrity, probably not.' He said, 'Good, then you have a chance.'

 

"Everyone's going to have an opinion on what you should do. Take all the opinions and information. Ultimately, you coach the team the way you need it to be coached. It's served as good advice. When I've had players go on from here to be coaches, I give them a desk plate just like it, one with their new team colors that says just what this one does: 'You coach the team.'"

 

"Every day with him was Law School," Payton says.

 

"My first staff meeting of my first training camp with the Giants, Bill asks [special-teams coach] Mike Sweatman, 'If something happens to Dave Meggett, who's going to return punts?'" Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis says. "Sweatman's hemming and hawing. One of the things I did was special-teams quality control. I figured I'd save Sweatman and said, 'Coach, Ingram's ahead of Baker.' Picture the scenario. I'm at one end of a long table. Bill's at the other. He looks at me, quietly folds his arms and says, 'You've been in the league five minutes. Shut the hell up.' I didn't talk again until the eighth week of the season."

 

"Everyone's got shark bites like that," Payton says.

 

"Some are bigger than others," Haley says.

 

"My first draft with him in Dallas, we argued a lot," Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland says. "He liked this guy; I liked that guy. I was hired two years before Bill got there by [team owner] Jerry Jones. So this was really my first draft with him. At the end of the draft, I said, 'That's it, I'm fired.' I really thought I was gone."

 

"That's probably the one thing I learned from him that I needed most — confrontation isn't a bad thing," Payton says.

 

"He likes people with conviction so long as you know what you're talking about," Crennel says.

 

"My favorite Bill story came in 1998 with the Jets before we played the Patriots in what was Tuna Bowl II," Haley says. "We were 2-3. It was on Monday Night Football. I'm a young coach. We went out to practice Thursday, and it was a sloppy practice. Bill called the coaches together and said, 'We're walking off the field.' The whole staff went back to the building, the offensive staff to one room, the defensive staff to their room. Bill says to me, 'Check out the window and see what they're doing.' Richie Anderson and Bryan Cox began leading practice. Bill's distraught. He's saying, 'We've got no chance.' 'Our players can't play.' I'm seeing this and say, 'So we're going to give up?' He looks at me and says, 'Yeah, like you gave up when you couldn't putt.' [Haley had tried to be a pro golfer.] I thought he was going to punch me. Well, we went out and beat the Patriots and went 12-4 that year. He just seems to know what a team needs, like he has a sixth sense."

 

"That same thing happened to us [with the Cowboys]," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano says.

 

"Bill understands the pressure involved in the game," Crennel says. "He wants to know whether the players and coaches can handle the pressure. Therefore, he applies it during the week to see they can handle it. He wants to know who can perform under that pressure the game brings."

 

"The quality that separates Bill Parcells from everyone else is what I call 'button-pushing,'" Weis says. "He knows everyone in the organization and what button to push for that one person to perform at a higher level. No matter who you are, he figures you out. I was coordinator with the Jets, and the one thing I prided myself on is I was never going to be outworked. Never. Sometimes when he'd be leaving to go home, he'd stop in my office and say, 'You looking to cut out early again, huh?' Then he'd go out the door. Well, that did it. If I was thinking of leaving, no way I was then. I'd stay and work another hour or two."

 

"We're different, and I'm not saying one's better or worse, but the biggest thing I'd say about Bill is he never lost sight of the big picture," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick says. "He's not a real detail guy. I'm probably a little more like that. I'm a detail guy and he's a big-picture guy and good at things only a head coach can do. Setting schedules, making decisions instead of waiting. Those things are important when you have operations people or scouts look at you for direction."

 

"He taught me the importance of reducing the quantity of offense," Payton says. "During the offseason, you work on the index of runs and passes. These are the plays we want to be good at. We'd spend weeks on that list. Weeks. Then at some point in the spring, he'd laminate the list. That'd be it. Those were the plays we were going to work on being good at. No more were added. More is not better."

 

"I learned to win from him," Coughlin says. "The Redskins were a tremendous rival of ours. Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells. They had an outstanding defense and one time we literally went down there with our entire offense consisting of three-step drops, quick slants, fades and a running game. I'm thinking, 'Holy smokes, how're we going to win?' We won the game. It was a revelation to me. It was an example of knowing your opponent and not going overboard with your thinking."

 

"He reduces things to something simple," Ireland says. "You're talking of 40 times and quickness and different tests and he asks, 'Does it look like a football player?' I just came in from working out a player and there was something that wasn't right. He said, 'Is there a player you know he looks like?' Things like that keep you thinking right."

 

"One time Bill got mad at coaches looking at their [play] scripts instead of coaching," Sparano said. "He told the equipment guy to collect all the scripts. 'OK, now, call the plays against the defense.' Just so we'd watch more closely at what was going on."

 

"I was always there in the morning and one day he wanted me to go to the local coffee shop with him," Coughlin says. "This is a New Jersey bagel and hard-roll coffee shop. As soon as we walk in, he's starting in on the guys at the counter and they're starting in on him. He's got a smile on his face. What people don't realize who don't know him is he's very witty, very engaging."

 

"He's got a nickname for everyone," Haley says.

 

"I was Dennis the Menace because I had hair that spiked a little and stuck up in the back," Payton says.

 

"Doom — I don't remember why that came up," Belichick says.

 

"I was Punxsutawney Jeff in Dallas," Ireland says. "He'd say, 'You general managers stick your head out of the ground every year in February and, if everything's clear, you come up.'"

 

"He's got all kinds of sayings," Coughlin says.

 

"When he left Dallas, I gave him a baseball bat that had a list of his sayings on it," Ireland says. "'One wrong, all wrong' is one that stuck with me. I use it in meetings. You need to be on the same page in an organization, and when one of us makes a mistake, we all do."

 

"I like, 'If he doesn't bite as a puppy, he won't bite' — saying if a rookie doesn't do something right away he might not ever," Sparano says.

 

"'He's like a ball in high grass — lost,'" Belichick says.

 

"He has a line for every position — 'Small corners with great skills can play; small corners with good skills are targets,'" Payton says.

 

"He uses a couple lines from his dad," Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning says. "'It's darkest just before it goes pitch black.' And, 'Big cigars and motor cars.' That refers to someone who's head's gotten too big. If a player's getting like that, Bill and I just say, 'Big cigars and motor cars.'"

 

"'He needs a year in Joplin,'" Weis says. "Sometimes I'll say that in a staff meeting and everyone looks at me, like, 'What's he talking about?' It was a Mickey Mantle analogy. Bill's a baseball fan and when Mantle wasn't quite ready for the big leagues he needed a year in Joplin to develop."

 

"He'll say, 'I want beavers,'" Ireland says. "When you ask what that means, he'll say, 'What's a beaver do?' 'Chop down trees.' 'What else does it do?' 'Well, nothing. It just chops trees.' 'That's why I want beavers.' He wants guys who just think football."

 

"I use so many lines and do so many things like Bill I don't even realize it," Haley says. "Mo Carthon and Dedric Ward were with Bill and are on my staff. Mo said after one staff meeting, 'I was looking down, listening, and had to look up to see who was talking. You sound just like Parcells.' I took that as a great compliment."

 

"I still pick his brain whenever I have a chance," Payton says.

 

"I called him before, during and after the hiring process [in Kansas City] — called him on the day I got the contract for some help," Haley says. "He must've known I was worked up. He answered the phone, 'Yes, honey, what is it?'"

 

"I get gray socks from him every once in a while," Coughlin says. "Syracuse, where I went, wore gray socks. The fact he even knew of the gray socks, that's something. But he'd send along a pair of gray socks and, as soon as I saw them, I'd get a smile. What he's saying is, 'Don't forget your roots, who you are.'"

 

"We talk when we can," Weis says.

 

"A couple times a year," Coughlin says.

 

"All the time," Sparano says. "How to put together the 53-man roster. What to do in this situation. When I got the job here, just before the summer, I was going to do some homework on my break on fourth-and-1s. I went to him and said, 'Talk to me about your philosophy on fourth downs.'"

 

"That's what's great," Ireland says. "I go across the hall with something, and he says something, and that bouncing thoughts off each other leads to the spark of an idea."

[Treehugger]

'You've been in the league five minutes. Shut the hell up.'

 

lol

[fringe]

Good article- I was thinking the other day about Bellichick's coaching legacy. It doesn't look very strong right now.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Good article- I was thinking the other day about Bellichick's coaching legacy. It doesn't look very strong right now.

 

 

Generally OCD type details guys have a harder time of transferring their wisdom than Big-Picture types. I am definitely a Big-Picture type as both a boss and a subordinate. I can work for a Big Picture type and I can have both as subordinates.....but I loathe working for the OCD-Type...just can't take it beyond a certain time frame...Usually my maximum is 1-2 years and then the hatred of the job and cognitive dissonance sets in. OCD Types also tend to be micro-managers....that is the easiest way as a supervisor that you can bend my nose out of shape. Tell me what you want and when you want it....and then stay out of my way. That attitude has worked both for me and against me...but I get to keep my sanity and that is more important to me than most other things...

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

'You've been in the league five minutes. Shut the hell up.'

 

lol

 

Being the rebel that I am....I might have said something like....sometimes 5 minutes is as good as 5 years coach...you never know. So either I get squashed or go up a notch or two. But I would never have opened my mouth to save anyone until I got more of a picture of who was who and what is going on. That's a blind plunge over a cliff the way he did it. You have to do a cost benefit analysis....will the guy appreciate your help....will he reciprocate in the future....will the boss squash you flat....will the boss let you talk....will the boss compliment you on your intervention....will the guy you help be resentful that a puppy helped him. For me there would have been too many negative outcomes. So Bill would not have had to tell me to shut up....I never would have opened my mouth in that situation.

[Bigblue25]

Good article- I was thinking the other day about Bellichick's coaching legacy. It doesn't look very strong right now.

 

 

Crennel and Mangini don't look too good,McDaniels will do fine he already is and Weis is doing things in notre dame.

[JackStroud]

Crennel and Mangini don't look too good,McDaniels will do fine he already is and Weis is doing things in notre dame.

 

 

Parcells could lead you th the mountaintop but then right down the other side

 

Bellicheck is the better of the two, and Parcells could not win without him

 

Funny guy but no Knute Rockne

[Gspotter]

Though I was raised a Parcell's guy; I believe I may wind up a Coughlin guy. Hard to imagine for the near 40 crowd that grew up on the 80's, however it is entirely possible that this is our golden age with the Giants. having lived through the Dave Brown era, I can honestly say that I thought this day would never come.

 

Even after the SB against the Ravens, I thought we'd never be tough again. It all started with EA picking the right coach and him finally getting the right DC.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Crennel and Mangini don't look too good,McDaniels will do fine he already is and Weis is doing things in notre dame.

 

 

I think it has a lot to do with Cleveland itself Blu...The Prince of Darkness did not find his footing till he left there. Crennel needs a little more seasoning as a DC before hitting the HC merry go round....and The Mangina...well I think he needs counseling for OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) before we even think about his coaching...

[Martin]

Though I was raised a Parcell's guy; I believe I may wind up a Coughlin guy. Hard to imagine for the near 40 crowd that grew up on the 80's, however it is entirely possible that this is our golden age with the Giants. having lived through the Dave Brown era, I can honestly say that I thought this day would never come.

 

Even after the SB against the Ravens, I thought we'd never be tough again. It all started with EA picking the right coach and him finally getting the right DC.

 

 

My respect for him as a coach has surpassed Parcell. Coughlin has the ability to do what ever it

takes to motivate his players even go as far as dig into his own soul for the better of his team.

 

His toughness and total team concept has made me a believer in him and his team.

The book is not finished yet as I see several S-Bowl wins on the horizion.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

My respect for him as a coach has surpassed Parcell. Coughlin has the ability to do what ever it

takes to motivate his players even go as far as dig into his own soul for the better of his team.

 

His toughness and total team concept has made me a believer in him and his team.

The book is not finished yet as I see several S-Bowl wins on the horizion.

 

 

He definitely has more loyalty to those around him than the Prostitute ever had...whether it is to the organization, his staff, the players and the fan base. Coach Cheerleader has really come into his own. Not many people could go through the fire and come out on the other side a better person. My hat goes off to him.