How Does Parcells Rank In Miami Failures?
By Brian Miller
If you took a stroll around the internet yesterday you would have stumbled across a story that began making it’s rounds as well. It involves Bill Parcells, no real surprise there. Not at least given the state of the Miami Dolphins these days. Seems that most of what is wrong with this team can or could be attributed to the mistakes of Bill Parcells.
It’s easy to remember the beginning of the 2010 season. Fans had high expectations, Brandon Marshall arrived, Karlos Dansby arrived, and Bill Parcells, a week before week 1 regular season, quit. His departure was criticized more for the timing of his escape more than the escape itself. Many fans and some media pointed to the QB situation as a reason he bailed. Others said that he realized this team wasn’t going anywhere and was done. Still others said he simply quit and took the money while more said it was simply his time to leave and turn the franchise over to those he put into position to manage it.
So while the debate raged on about why he left, the team mired itself in mediocrity only adding more fuel to the Bill Parcell departure fire.
Now, according to various reports around the web, Parcells is back in the news. This time because he openly says that he was a consultant of NY Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum when it came to offering an opinion on the Jets hiring Rex Ryan. And that has the fans stirred up, once again.
Page 2 poll is now open.
The story is simple. It goes like this. Bill Parcells told someone at ESPN that Tannenbaum called him to get his thoughts on Rex Ryan as a HC. Tannenbaum and Parcells are friends. Parcells gave a glowing recommendation to MT about Ryan and the rest of that part of the story is, history. Parcells also told ESPN that he absolutely loved Rex Ryan, had tons of respect for his father, and thought this guy was going to be one of the greats, to paraphrase not exaggerate.
The question became then why Tony Sparano? Parcells said that his very good working relationship with Tony in Dallas was the reason he brought him to Miami. If not Tony, then Rex? Parcells said yes.
Now, let’s look at this from a couple of different sides. The first is what would Ryan have done in Miami? Aside from the change in attitude of the players he would have had when he arrived, the talent pool in Miami was nowhere near as good as in NY and the veterans that he brought in there, would not have fallen into the Bill Parcells way of rebuilding the Dolphins so we can take out those veteran moves. The question then becomes could Rex Ryan have made the Dolphins a winner with the same team that Sparano had in 2008, 2009, and 2010? It’s debatable…so have at it.
The next question has more to do with what has fans irritated now, the “collusion” factor of the Mike Tannenbaum counseling.
Parcells was in fact under contract with the Miami Dolphins in 2007. Late 2007 while Cam Cameron was still the coach. He was employed by Wayne Huizenga. Some say that being he was under contract should be enough to allow current Dolphins owner Stephen Ross file a grievance with the NFL.
It won’t happen. Or at least I don’t think there would be much ground to stand on.
While Parcells’ move was not the smartest in the world and to be honest I put this entire episode into the typical “Parcellian Ego” category, he really only offered some advice to a friend, something does go on in the NFL. Don Shula had given advice to other teams as well while still under the employ of the Dolphins but not in the AFC East or the AFC for that matter.
Parcells’ decision to speak with Tannenbaum was foolish on his part and he is quickly trying to shed the last 3 years from his legacy. His hitch to Dan Henning, his decisions regarding player personnel, the coaches and the GM are all under scrutiny. It’s no wonder why he quit.
The surprising part really isn’t that all of these thinks happened. The surprising part is that after 3 years of self imposed silence, his willingness to talk openly about it on so many levels is the surprising part.
But then again, it’s Parcells, does anything really surprise you?
So what do you think? Where does Bill Parcells fit in the Miami Dolphins list of management mistakes? You tell us!