Bill Parcells

Trendsetter, team builder, innovator and “The Man with the Plan” are but a few of the accolades the media and fans use to describe Bill Parcells. He is a man who has proven throughout his career that he is synonymous with winning. Though he retired from coaching for a third time, Parcells has since returned to act as Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Miami Dolphins.

One of the most successful coaches in NFL history, Parcells led the New York Giants to victories in Super Bowls XXI and XXV, took the AFC Champion New England Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI, and led the 1998 New York Jets to a franchise first AFC Eastern Division Championship. Recently, Parcells was head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, and led the team to the playoffs during his first season, but retired from this position in January of 2007. A football legend, Parcells is one of only three coaches in NFL history to lead two different teams to the Super Bowl.

Parcells’ dream to become an NFL coach began while as a teenager as he watched the New York Giants defeat the Chicago Bears in the 1956 NFL championship game. The seed was planted. The young man born in Englewood, New Jersey in 1941 decided he would someday be an NFL coach.

Parcells graduated from River Dell High School in 1958 and, after a brief stint at Colgate, went to Wichita State where he was a star linebacker. After he was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round, he decided to turn immediately to coaching instead and took a position with Hastings College in Nebraska. Parcells then returned to Wichita State where he was defensive coach before he became assistant coach at West Point, defensive coordinator at Florida State, defensive assistant at Vanderbilt, and Texas Tech, and then head coach of the Air Force Academy. After a brief stint as linebacker coach for the New England Patriots, Parcells joined the Giants as defensive coordinator.

Under Parcells’ direction, the Giants defense improved dramatically. In 1980, the team had allowed 425 points. However, under Parcells’ guidance, the defense improved from its No. 25 ranking to No. 3 and allowed only 257 points. They also had the lowest average-per-rush (3.4) allowed and lowest average-per-play (4.2) allowed.

Parcells was named Head Coach of the New York Giants beginning with the 1983 season. The boyhood dream had become a reality which would, in the next eight years, again become dream-like. Parcells established one of the highest winning percentages of all NFL Coaches. He was named Coach of the Year in 1986 in all the major polls. In 1989 he was named NFL Coach of the Year by NFL Films and NFC Coach of the Year by The Washington Post. He was also named Coach of the Year for the All-Madden Team for the 1990 season.

To date, probably the greatest tribute to Parcells’ success is the fact that he took a struggling New York Giants and transformed them into world champions that would claim the Super Bowl title in 1986 and 1991. In only eight years as head coach, he accomplished what most coaches only hope to accomplish in a lifetime.