Source: Parcells could be in Dolphins mix
If Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga decides to make significant changes this offseason, don't be surprised if Bill Parcells surfaces as a top candidate to help in a resurrection of the 0-7 team.
While such change is purely speculative and premature at this time, a source close to Parcells said it's completely logical.
"It makes a lot of sense that the Dolphins would be a job he'd be very interested in if it came open," a source close to Parcells said Friday. "But only as the GM. I don't think he'll ever coach again."
Huizenga told The Miami Herald last week he is not only unhappy with the state of the team this season, but that he would have the team conduct "internal self-studies" before he made decisions on the future of both general manager Randy Mueller and first-year coach Cam Cameron.
Huizenga expressed his unhappiness again earlier this week at the NFL fall meetings in Philadelphia. However, Huizenga said he hadn't spoken with Parcells since playing golf with the former coach in the spring at Huizenga's private course, The Floridian, in Stuart, Fla.
"That idea (of hiring Parcells) is a shock to me," Huizenga said.
If the internal evaluations lead to massive change by Huizenga, Parcells, who is currently an analyst for ESPN, would be a logical candidate on a number of fronts. Parcells has great respect for Huizenga and the owner's style of not interfering with the football operations. While that doesn't make Parcells unique in the football world, he also has developed a social relationship with Huizenga.
In addition, Parcells spends a lot of time in South Florida, particularly in the offseason because of his love of horse racing and baseball.
For Huizenga, the move would be logical because he has always preferred a "star" system for running the Dolphins, putting one person in charge of the entire football operations. Since 1993, when Huizenga bought the team, that person has normally been the coach, as Huizenga had with Shula, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt and Nick Saban.
This is only the second year in which Huizenga has had a GM/coach set-up. The other time he did that was in 2004 with Wannstedt and Rick Spielman. That season was a disaster, starting 1-8 before the firing of Wannstedt and ultimately finishing 4-12.
The catch is that Parcells likely doesn't want to coach again and would probably only want to be in an executive role.
Parcells, 65, was general manager of the New York Jets in 2000 after retiring as coach. Also, according to a book published this fall, he held a private meeting with Giants executives late last season while coaching the Dallas Cowboys. Parcells expressed interest in succeeding Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, who retired after last season.
Parcells, who won two Super Bowls as coach of the New York Giants in the 1990s, has been adamant about running the football operations since becoming the Patriots head coach in 1993. Parcells has coached the Jets and Cowboys since then, retiring from Dallas after last season.
All of that said, Parcells has been wildly unpredictable throughout his career, ranging from changing his mind at the last minute in 1992 about coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to leaving the Patriots after leading them to the Super Bowl in the 1996 season. While with the Patriots at the Super Bowl in New Orleans that year, Parcells was calling the Jets to work out a contract.
