BILL BELICHICK wakes up this morning in professional limbo, his reputation sullied and his new year off to a terrible start.
And he has his longtime mentor, Bill Parcells, to thank for it.
Parcells blocked Belichick’s opportunity to negotiate for another team’s head-coaching position — and a likely blockbuster contract — by suddenly stepping down as Jet head coach and elevating the 47-year-old Belichick, who has spent most of his coaching career working for Parcells.
As an assistant coach, the Jets could not have stopped another team, say the New England Patriots, from interviewing the respected defensive coordinator for their top spot. It would have come with a hefty raise from the $750,000 Belichick earned as Parcells’ second.
But with Belichick under contract as head coach, other teams can’t as much as whisper a “hello” in his ear with getting permission from the Jets.
Parcells said he owed the team a quick decision, but he knew Monday, as he started his press conference, that a decision on picking a new owner would not be made for as long as a week.
And under NFL rules, the new owner would not be able to tinker with the team until the sale closed, months down the line.
So what was the rush for Parcells? Tuna, aware that his nemesis, Patriots’ owner Bob Kraft, wanted to talk to Belichick, may have moved quickly to give Kraft the shaft.
Parcells denied that was the reason — but didn’t explain his rush to resign.
Belichick, perhaps miffed at the lost financial opportunity with another team, resigned after one day on the job as the Jets’ top man.
Besides sending the Jets into chaos, the move muddies Belichick’s future. He is not free to work anywhere else — NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue reviewed Belichick’s contract and found it rock solid.
Belichick could still end up with the Patriots. Just as the Jets gave Kraft two draft choices for Parcells in 1997, Kraft may repay with those draft choices for Belichick.
And while the Jets football operations are being thrown into chaos, their off-the-field work, like the sale of the team, continues in an unaffected manner.
Any future owner has more long-term problems to worry about — like a new stadium, better marketing campaign and future television rights payments.
Cablevision’s Charles Dolan, the likely winner of the bidding war for the team, is much more concerned with working out how to establish the wall the NFL is asking to be built between his corporate and personal assets.