Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer gets stamp of approval from HoF coach Bill Parcells
Bill Parcells retired from coaching in 2006. But the Hall of Famer’s opinion still carries a great deal of weight around the league, and the two-time Super Bowl champ and two-time Coach of the Year has given his blessing to the Cowboys’ (re)hire of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.
Zimmer was in his tenth year on staff in Dallas and already had a Super Bowl ring when Parcells came out of his second retirement to take over the foundering team. The two appeared that they might be diametrically opposed to one another, with Zimmer a long fan of the 4-3 defense and Parcells having traditionally run a 3-4 scheme.
But Parcells not only kept Zimmer in place as Cowboys defensive coordinator, he allowed Zimmer to keep running his 4-3. The Dallas defense, led by Greg Ellis, La’Roi Glover, Dexter Coakley, Dat Nguyen, Roy Williams, and Darren Woodson (in his final season), finished as the top unit in the league. The Cowboys, after three straight 5-11 seasons, went 10-6 and earned a playoff slot.
Parcells, it turns out, had seen something he liked early on in Zimmer.
“He’s a coach’s son, and I always liked that because they lived it at the dinner table when they were young,” Parcells said per ESPN’s Todd Archer. “[Bill] Belichick was the same way. That’s the kind of guys they were. But I got to like Mike and we’ve become good friends.”
The two friends still talk frequently.
“He’s a football guy,” Parcells says of Zimmer. “He likes the game. He’s committed to doing a good job. He’s not lazy at all. That’s good.”
Sensing Zimmer’s ability to adapt, Parcells began to show some 3-4 tendencies in his second season at the helm. By the 2005 season and with another draft class hand-picked as part of the master plan, the Cowboys had fully implemented the 3-4 for the first time in franchise history. Under Zimmer, who had no previous experience with 3-4 personnel, the group finished in the top 10 defensively. The team went 9-7.
Another 9-7 record and another wild-card berth followed in 2006. That squad, thought to be early Super Bowl contenders, saw their championship hopes dashed when new quarterback Tony Romo bobbled the hold on a potential game-winning field goal in Seattle.
Parcells retired (a third and final time) at season’s end; Zimmer moved on to a defensive coordinator’s role in Atlanta. He’s since done that same job in Cincinnati, too, and then spent eight years as head coach in Minnesota.
An offer for Cowboys fans
For the best local Austin news, sports, entertainment and culture coverage, subscribe to the Austin American-Statesman.
But now that he’s back in Dallas for a second stint as DC, Parcells expects today’s Cowboys players to get the same old Zim’, although he warns that guys expecting to have their egos propped up with sugar-coated platitudes are in for a culture shock.
“He’s himself,” Parcells explained. “That’s what he does. That’s what people that get along with players are. They don’t say you have to get along, but players respect people who are straightforward, to the point, and trying to help them get better. He’s the best with them. And the ones that don’t like the truth are probably going to have a problem.”
And if Zimmer brings back even a little bit of that fiery “Tuna” attitude, most fans probably won’t mind at all.
