Can the Big Tuna Save the New Orleans Saints?

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Will Bill Parcells help out former assistant and Saints?

When the NFL decided to punish head coach Sean Peyton for not stopping the "bounty" program of injuring opposing players by suspending the coach for the next year they probably did not consider one potential consequence.

Today it became clear Parcells is in talks to take over as head coach for the next year while Peyton is suspended.  What would that mean for the Saints?

They would be trading in an assistant for the master and mentor.

The New Jersey native Parcells is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history leading the New York Giants to two Super Bowl wins, taking the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl, and winning the AFC championship with the New York Jets.  

The Big Tuna as he was affectionately known in Jersey when I was there and got to meet him at Giants stadium was AP Coach of the Year twice and is the only coach to take four different teams into the playoffs.  It appears he may want to make that five.

In addition to being a future Hall of Fame Coach, he was a lock this year if he stays retired, his real legacy is how many of his assistants went on to become top coaches.  Three have won Super Bowls themselves for the Patriots, Jets and Saints.  Look at a partial list of the Parcell's disciples.

Bill Belichick, New England Patriots

Tom Coughlin, New York Giants

Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints

Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Brown

Eric Mangini, New York Jets

Al Groh, University of Virginia

Charlie Weis, University of Notre Dame

Nick Saban, University of Alabama

In his most recent stint as an NFL head coach, Parcells helped rebuild the famed Dallas Cowboys franchise, leading the team to two playoffs appearances (2003 and 2006) and compiling a 34-32 record in four seasons, becoming the first head coach in NFL history to lead four different teams to the playoffs. He stepped down in January 2006 after leading Dallas to a Wild Card playoff berth – the team’s last postseason appearance.

What a legacy coaching some of the top franchises in NFL history, New York Giants, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets.

If the Saints can recruit Parcells there could be yet another Super Bowl ring and NFL championship in his already impressive resume.  Now what about the Saints being punished by having to suspend their head coach for a year?  Leave it to the Saints to land a Big Tuna for a savior.
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New York Giants win 4th Super Bowl

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Giants edge Patriots 21-17 in Super Thriller.

Eli Manning led the New York Giants to a last minute victory for the 7th time ths season, and this was for all the marbles. In a stunning conclusion to a rather erratic season, the younger Manning proved his birthright to a family of champions.

 At the same time Tom Couglin, the sof spoken coach of the Giants, won his 2nd Super Bowl over long time friend and coaching rival Bill Belichek. Both were assistant coaches under Bill Parcells at the New York Giants.

 Thrilling, unpredictable and played with great intensity, it was a game to remember.

 Another favorite, Madonna, played the halftime show and put on a great production in the most difficult of all venues. With only 15 minutes to set up and dismantle a major production, and no sound checks before the concert, Madonna still pulled off one of her best performances for an audiience estimated to be around 111 million in the USA and untold millions more around the world.

 By the way, I picked the Giants to win by 3. They won by 4.
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The Super Bowl Coaches

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Long Time Friends and Former Teammates

While much has been written about the Super Bowl I can share with you my personal experience and it concerns the two coaches of the Super Bowl gladiators. Back in the decade of the 1980's I had the pleasure of working for Tom Kean, Governor of New Jersey.

It was during that time newly opened Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports complex was home to the New York Giants and Jets and the Giants, who had struggled for years to regain the stature of past teams, recruited a young New Jersey native Bill Parcells to lead the team back to greatness.

Indeed he did leading them to Super Bowl championships in 1987 and 1991 before moving on to the Dallas Cowboys and then New England Patriots. Since the Giants stadium was owned by the State of New Jerseyand the governor and designated state commissioners were on the Meadowlands Board on occasion I got to represent the governor at meetings during the first Super Bowl season.

Through this unusual opportunity I also got to meet Coach Parcells on several occasions and his assistant coaches. Over the years I became great fans of Parcells, along with two of his many successful assistant coaches Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin.

These are the same people who are now head coaches for this year's Super Bowl teams, the New England Patriots and New York Giants. Their individual success stands as a testament to Bill Parcells and the many assistants who went on to head coaching and successful careers. All should and will be in the NFL Hall of Fame.

They once worked toward the same goals: Win a Super Bowl as an assistant coach. Become a head coach. Become a Super Bowl-winning head coach.

For Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Giants coach Tom Coughlin, those were yesterday’s dreams. Based on their successes, each has had to readjust their career objectives.

On Sunday, they will again have the same achievement in mind. However, only one will leave Indianapolissatisfied.

“He’s a good friend of mine that I’ve been with a long time,” Belichick said last week when asked about Coughlin.

For three years, from 1988 through 1990, they worked together on Coach Bill Parcells’ Giants staff. Belichick, who had been with New York since 1979, was the defensive coordinator, while Coughlin acted as the wide receivers coach on a staff that included the likes of Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weis and Al Groh.

Following a Super Bowl XXV victory over the heavily favored Bills in January 1991, each jumped to head coaching positions: Coughlin to Boston College, Belichick to the Cleveland Browns.

Twenty-one years later, they meet in the Super Bowl for the second time, branches of Parcells’ coaching tree getting tangled up once again. They first met in 2008 when Coughlin's Giants stunned the odds makers and beat the Patriots.

The three coaches will have coached in 10 Super Bowls, winning 6 after this game, a remarkable record for three members of the same Giants coaching staff.

Right now, one man sits alone among NFL head coaches in the Super Bowl era. That man is Chuck Noll, the legendary former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the only NFL coach to win four Super Bowls.

Enter Bill Belichick.

Even if he loses Super Bowl XLVI and never wins another game, Belichick's legacy will still be strong. With a victory this weekend, the Patriots' coach will tie Noll with four Super Bowl wins, and, in essence, elevate himself to a status only Noll has known.
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