(
)
Legendary coach Bill Parcells, before his Hall of Fame induction next week, sat down with Post columnist Steve Serby for some Q&A.
Q: John Madden once said that the Hall of Fame busts talk to each other at night. Who will your bust seek out?
A: That’s really an easy question. Certainly I’d be keeping an eye on [Lawrence] Taylor (smile). And Harry Carson, of course. The players that I coached that are in there: Curtis Martin, [Andre] Tippett, those guys. And then Wellington [Mara]. And then the guys that helped me get going in the business — Al Davis, Tom Landry and Chuck Noll. … And the personnel guys, none of those are in there, but there were three or four of them that helped me too: Gil Brandy, Mike Holovak, Bucko Kilroy, and of course, Ron Wolf. … My contemporaries: Joe Gibbs, Bill Walsh, Marv Levy — those were the guys that I was competing against all the time that are in there.
Q: What do you think your bust would say to Wellington?
A: Thanks for everything. Stuff like that. I’m gonna say something at the end of my talk that involves Wellington, so I can’t say it now.
Q: Why did you pick former Giants defensive end George Martin to present you?
A: A lot of people have asked me that. Basically he was a very important player for me at the beginning of my career, at my formative years as a head coach in the NFL. He was my co-captain with Harry, and he was my player representative, and he was a conduit of information to the players and vice versa, in a time when there not rules and regulations that are in place now, to handle certain situations. So we had to kinda figure this out together, and he was very supportive in that regard. And quite frankly, I’m not certain that I would have ever gotten to go forward in the business without his help.
Q: Can you elaborate?
A: I can just say that he supported me — and his teammates — that was the balancing act that he had to do.
Q: A Bill Parcells football player would be described how in the dictionary, 25 words or less?
A: Smart … tough … committed … in condition … and the same guy every day. And I probably would say … unselfish would be an important word for me too. And I’ll say this at my speech, and I don’t mind you saying this: I had the right guys at the right time. … That was a rough and tumble crew now, people don’t realize. … There were some football players in that group. … You were not awed by their skill level, some of them. But those attributes you couldn’t see, they had ’em – – the [Maurice] Carthons and the [Jim] Burts, and those guys.
Q: Do you think you had any role in saving Lawrence Taylor’s life?
A: No. I don’t think I saved his life. No, I don’t. But I do think he knows … I think the thing that hurt me, of all the things that have ever been written about me that I just brush off my back like it didn’t happen, probably the one thing that hurt me the most was when they said, “Well, Parcells had a double standard for Taylor and he looked the other way.” That wasn’t true. I didn’t look the other way. And, I think Lawrence knows how much I cared. I think he always knew that. If I called him right now, said, “I really need to talk to you,” as soon as he gets that message it’s comin’.” He’s a special guy. No matter how bad things got — we were fightin’ like dogs me and this kid sometimes, it was … almost over the edge … both of us, ’cause we have that same personality in terms of we’re sayin’ what we think. No matter how bad it was, Sunday at 1 o’clock, national anthem played … [he was] right next to me. All the time. Now that means, “Well you’re an a- -hole, but (smile) …”
Q: Why was there that bond between you two?
A: It’s hard to say. I just loved him, I always did. I really mean it. I literally love the guy. Hey, I was saddened by some of these issues just like anybody would be. … He has qualities that only those of us that were right there with him can appreciate. There are just things that nobody knows about this guy that I know that are so positive …
Q: Such as …
A: Loyalty … benevolence …
Q: Benevolence as far as his teammates?
A: Oh yeah. Totally unselfish. Perfect team player. Perfect team player. I don’t care if he got 10 sacks, and we lost, he was pissed. And he gets shut out, and we win, he’s happy.
Q: What do you think your bust will say to Lawrence’s bust?
A: “Are you gonna [bleepin’] play this week?” He would say, “You just worry about those other SOBs you’re coaching.” That was the dialogue on several occasions (smile). Spit would be comin’ out of his helmet when he said it, too (smile).
Q: A quote from Phil Simms way back when: “It’s war out there, and Bill got us ready for war.”
A: I told him several times, “I don’t need a celebrity quarterback. I need a battlefield commander.” And I don’t know that that’s the right choice of words. … I’m not making light of the military in any manner of speaking … but it was important to me that the quarterback was a fighter. That’s what I said — I had the right guy at the right time. And we needed each other. We did.
Q: You’re a New York Giant at heart, is that safe to say?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Why?
A: That’s pretty easy. I grew up there. I followed the team with tremendous interest as a young boy. I was exposed to the Lombardi family. I went to Giant games. I can’t say I went to a lot of ’em, but when I went to games, that’s the game that I went to.
Q: Do you remember your first Giants game?
A: They were still playing in the Polo Grounds. They were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jim Finks and Ted Marchibroda were the Steelers’ quarterbacks.
Q: Who were your favorite guys?
A: Charlie Conerly, I loved him … No. 42. I still have his picture from the first Sports Illustrated. Still have it. Framed.
Q: Were you disappointed in 1993 when you couldn’t return to replace Ray Handley?
A: I will tell you this: Someone high up called me, to broach the subject. But, in the end, not everybody wanted me back there, OK? Not everybody did. And, that’s OK. But that’s why it didn’t happen. It was probably in everybody’s best interest. My baby brother said it the best: “Why would you do that? You can only do worse!”
Q: Your reaction the day Bill Belichick resigned as coach of the Jets? Did you know it was coming?
A: No, of course not. I didn’t know it was coming.
Q: There was speculation he wanted to get out from under yourgeneral manager shadow. You think you two could have worked well together?
A: Yeah. Eventually, yeah.
Q: A quote from you: “If you’re sensitive, you will have a hard time with me.”
A: And vice versa. If I’m sensitive, I’ll probably have a hard time with some of them. The coach has to watch it. Even if you’re being a little bit of a wise, sarcastic … you can’t cross the line either. There’s a point where you can go too far with what you say. You can drive a player into a shell, or you can get him so he resents you so badly that he doesn’t respond. … You have to be careful of that. But one thing I always tried to do, if I had said something to a player that I felt was a little sharp or something, I would always try to go to the player before we got the day over, somehow, walking in from practice or something, somehow … do a little damage control: “My expectations for you are higher than yours, that’s why we’re having a problem.” So those kinds of things, to make them think that I had confidence in them, and most cases I did.
Q: A quote from Vinny Testaverde: “He allows you to do your job and not worry about other things. He takes care of the distractions and makes players responsible.”
A: I always tried to tell my players that I will handle all the ancillary issues for you. Like when we’re going to the first Super Bowl, I said, “Fellas, don’t ask me any questions about what we’re doing — this stuff will be handled for you, we will have it for you in a meeting, you get ready to play the goddamn game. And I’ll take care of the rest of this s—t, I **** promise **** you that.”
Q: A 2000 quote about you from Joe Horrigan of the Hall of Fame: “History may view him as a Lombardi-type coach, one who went into organizations that had been down, and totally refocused them into winners.
A: I grew up with Vince Lombardi Jr. We did things together when we were young guys. I would be flattered if I was one-tenth of what that guy was.
Q: You always used to say that your favorite memories were the smiling faces of your players when they won championships.
A: You can’t forget it.
Q: And also, in your words: “You see the pain too — Karl Nelson’s cancer, sitting with Mark Bavaro and he’s crying from the pain in his knee … Lawrence Taylor looking up from the trainer’s table after saving a game in Philadelphia by tackling Randall Cunningham despite a pulled hamstring and saying, ‘I can still do it.’”
A: I used to stand up in front of these guys, and I would tell them: “Not one of you SOBs is gonna remember how much money you made. Ten years after you retire, nobody’s gonna know anything about any of you anyway. They’re not gonna know who I am, they’re not gonna know who you are. But you guys are gonna know, and that’s what’s important. And I’m gonna know. And that’s what’s important.”
Q: All these years later, they’re still a team.
A: I’m going to the Hospital For Special Surgery. I gotta be there the night of May 16. I get a phone call. It’s [Jim] Burt.
“You going to HSS for surgery?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“What day you goin’?”
“I’m goin’ Thursday night, and I’m havin’ [shoulder] surgery Friday morning.”
“Where you stayin’ Thursday night?”
“I’m gonna stay at that Belair Suites across there.”
“No you’re not, you’re stayin’ at my house. And then I’m drivin’ you in. And then when you get out of the hospital, I’m pickin’ you up and I’m takin’ you back to Saratoga.”
That lets me know that I’m one of them too. That they not only do it for their teammate, they do it for their coach, too.
Q: He didn’t actually do that, did he?
A: He did it! It showed you what a team’s supposed to be. Now, along with that, I’m in the wheelchair, and he’s got his car out there on the way out, and this intern says to Jimmy, “Help the coach get in the car.” He says, “Don’t worry, I’m gonna throw him out on the highway as soon as we get on the road!” But that’s the deal, ya know? That’s the deal (chuckle).
Q: Describe Tim Mara.
A: Great guy. A very, very important piece of the success puzzle that was created there. Very important.
Q: Him selling 50 percent of the Giants, how much did that impact your decision to leave after Super Bowl XXV.
A: Not really anything at all.
Q: Health was the main issue?
A: Yes.
Q: Mark Bavaro.
A: One of a kind. … Run, block and catch. That was a football-playin’ guy right there. And he was a good, good person.
Q: Harry Carson.
A: Hey, we can’t name ’em all, that’s the problem. At the Hall of Fame, I can’t name any of ’em.
Q: Because you’ll always forget somebody.
A: I won’t forget. I can’t name enough!
Q: OK, what do want to say about Harry?
A: He was one of the very best inside linebackers to ever play.
Q: Ottis Anderson.
A: You couldn’t hurt him with an axe. I mean, he was durable. He never got hurt.
Q: Burt.
A: Fiery competitor.
Q: When a rookie Jumbo Elliott told you he liked to play left tackle.
A: I get Taylor. I said, “When you know, you let me know, will ya? Because if he’s not a left tackle, I’m gonna put him at right, we need to get him over there as soon as possible.” We practiced twice the first day in pads. We come in from morning practice the second day, here comes Taylor. He says, “We got somethin’ there, Bill! You can’t do the same thing to him twice. The second thing is, if he gets his head on ya, you’re dead! And the third thing is, he’s got a damn f—-ng temper.”
Q: Matt Bahr.
A: Clutch player. And tough.
Q: How would you sum up Leon Hess?
A: Like I sum up Jerry Jones — his word is good. A handshake is all you needed. A deal’s a deal.
Q: Tony Romo.
A: He has very good ability — in all areas. Mentally, physically, elusiveness, he has everything. I like him a lot. I wish I’d had him for a longer period of time.
Q: Does he have what it takes to win a Super Bowl?
A: I think he does.
Q: Sean Payton.
A: I love Sean. He likes football … he’s interesting … he’s smart … he’s a good listener.
Q: A Jerry Jones quote: “Altering his system to fit his players is one of Bill Parcells’ best attributes.”
A: My second year in New England, we set a record for the number of attempts for passing in NFL history. But that’s what we had. I know what Jerry’s talking about, went to Dallas, I’d always been a 3-4 guy, they had personnel for a 4-3, we played it, and we led the league in defense. But I had good help there. Mike Zimmer did a great job for us, and we had different kinda guys there than what I was used to — Dat Nguyen, and Dexter Coakley and Greg Ellis, Glover — but they were football players.
Q: You made the trainer’s room 58 degrees in Dallas.
A: 55.
Q: And you took the two TVs out of there.
A: First day. Wanna know why? I went in there, and one of the things I first saw was one of the startin’ guards eatin’ pizza on the training table. So that was the end of that s–t.
Q: A Terry Glenn quote: “A younger guy might not need a Coach Parcells-type to get the best out of you. When you’ve got somebody on you all the time the way Coach Parcells is, it makes you feel gratified. He makes feel like you do stuff bad so much, that when you do something good and he praises you, you feel excited like a little kid.”
A: You have to let them know both sides. It can’t just be one side. It can’t be, “Hey Parcells, you stink” It can’t be that all the time. It can’t be critical all the time. When they do something good, you have to acknowledge it, you have to let them know. I think I was — I don’t want to say lavish — in my praise, I wouldn’t use that word, but … when they did something important for us winning, I let them know.
Q: Would maybe frugal be a better word?
A: Yeah, maybe (smile). But when they did something to help us win, and it was obvious to everybody that it helped us win, you gotta acknowledge that. … We got this crackback screen, where Keyshawn [Johnson’s] gotta come block Cornelius Bennett. Flattens him! Three times in the game. Three times we call the play, boom, Bennett’s down. So during a team meeting, I take those three plays. … “Now we got a guy here, he likes to talk once in a while, he chirps, he does this, he does that.” I said, “You find one sonuvabitch in the league to do what you see him doing on Sunday.” It acknowledges his commitment to win. It’s not “Just give me the ball. I’m willing to do whatever we do.” And that’s the misconception about Keyshawn.
Q: One of your favorite memories — leaving RFK Stadium silent.
A: Like a graveyard. That was one of the great games I ever coached, that Raul Allegre kicked that field goal down there that Monday night.
Q: What was the genesis of the Charlie the Tuna practical joke?
A: It happened in New England. They wanted me to sign up for a free turkey.
Q: Why would they think you would fall for that?
A: I had never been in pro football, so I was a rookie coach.
Q: Why didn’t you sign up for the free turkey?
A: Because I figured there was something up (smile). There were too many guys asking me if I signed up yet.
Q: Hall of Fame people in your life — your Hall of Famers?
A: Well, you always start with your family, because my dad had a lot of wisdom, and my mom was confrontational. So that’s what I was a product of.
Q: You’re a combination of the two of them.
A: I don’t know about the wisdom part (smile). I tried to take what I could from him, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. I really don’t. There’s not one day that goes by I don’t think about him. … He was such a bright guy and … he taught me how to think about things. He taught me how to evaluate situations.
Q: So he was like a life coach for you.
A: Definitely. Yeah. But now, that being said, there’s others that helped with that too. Obviously [River Dell High School basketball coach] Mickey Corcoran, he’s gonna be there, thank God. … It’s 58 years now. C’mon! I mean, he’s been a coach, teacher, disciplinarian, guidance counselor. … I mean, what do want? He’s been everything. A second father …
Q: Other Hall of Famers in your life?
A: I was real close with my brother Don, you know he’s gone now, it was just sad. … My first agent, Robert Fraley, he was killed on the plane with Payne Stewart. … There’ve been quite a few in coaching … and then I just have some personal friends, I can’t name ’em all. When you’re in my business, you learn to sequester yourself … keep your distance … and your feelings to yourself, most of the time. Because you always have to be on guard about what you say. You never know where it’s going.
Q: Especially now.
A: Now it’s way worse. And the immediacy of what happens now — way worse. But that being said, I think … these kids that are head coaches now, one of the things I always tell ’em when they ask me about it: It’s a lonely job. ’Cause you’re by yourself. When things aren’t going well, you’re the one that’s gonna have to figure it out. And so it can be a very lonely job.
Q: I can’t imagine it being any lonelier for you than it was in 1983.
A: It was tough in some ways. It took a while for me to get to the right mindset as a coach. I was trying to get back to really being myself, which I really wasn’t my first year.
Q: Describe the drive from Upper Saddle River to Giants Stadium.
A: I’m a little superstitious, I never wanted to go straight to work. Always wanted to stop someplace. You can see regular people. Maybe only 30 seconds. I never wanted to go straight to work. And sometimes I didn’t go straight home either, which I shoulda done.
Q: You didn’t want any of your players to precede you into the locker room and you always wanted to see Simms, [Brad] Benson and [Chris] Godfrey before everyone else?
A: It wasn’t Godfrey. … I wanted to see Mo Carthon, and then Simms and Benson. Benson was always the first.
Q: Why did you have to see those three?
A: Because I’m superstitious. We were winning games, and that was the order that they usually came in. The linemen generally came early ’cause they had more to do. In those days, the equipment guys weren’t taping their shirts for ’em, players had to tape their own shirts to their shoulder pads.
Q: Who would you pick to start a franchise today?
A: If I was starting today? I like Aaron Rodgers a lot, and I like this Andrew Luck a lot.
Q: Underrated opponents you admired.
A: James Wilder, William Andrews, Roy Green, Lionel Washington.
Q: Are you going to have a Kentucky Derby horse?
A: No. I have a very good horse [Saratoga Snacks]. If he wins this one [Thursday at Saratoga], he’s gonna be in a very, very big race here at the end of the meet. He’s a cult hero around here — “How’s the Snackster? When’s he runnin?” It’s worse than football, because when they go in the gate, you can’t control anything.
Q: You can control who your jockey is.
A: Yeah. They don’t call it jockey racing. They call it horse racing.
Q: Other than leaving the Patriots, any other regrets?
A: On a personal level, I think I could have been a better father, ’cause I wasn’t always home.
Q: Any other football regrets?
A: Yeah, you have a few, but they’re selfish regrets, you know? I wish we didn’t fumble that snap up there in Seattle on the field goal, because we were gonna go play the Bears in Chicago, I thought we had chance there.
Q: The 1998 AFC Championship game in Denver.
A: Very disappointing. … It’s a perfect example of an opportunity missed. You’ve seen Earnest Byner fumble into the end zone, the Browns haven’t been back since, have they? There’s no guarantee that you’re getting back.
Q: How about the criticism of you — couldn’t make up his mind , you always left teams better than when you arrived, but your endings were never pretty.
A: I think the best way to explain that — and I’m not making excuses — is that I measure nine times and I cut once. That means I’m thinkin’ things over for a loooong time before I [decide] a lot of times. … It’s not procrastination. It’s trying to be analytical.
Q: Why was leaving the Jets after three years as head coach the right decision for you?
A: We had a sequence of things in place, and I thought it was a good time to do that. It turned out retrospectively, it wasn’t.
Q: Why did you think it was a good time to get off the sidelines?
A: It’s hard to explain. The game beats you up, and guys like me … the trap is, for guys like me, and this is the trap: You can’t win enough. Because you’re trying to satisfy yourself. And that’s the trap for all of us. And that’s what drives guys out. You cannot win enough. Tom Coughlin’s like that. … You can’t win enough to satisfy yourself. And that’s the trap.
Q: It’s an addiction to winning, to the pursuit of winning.
A: It’s an addiction to achievement. I have never, ever, ever, ever been satisfied with myself in that regard. I can remember, if I was 2-for-4 in a baseball game, I’d be lamenting the fact that I wasn’t 3-for-4.
Q: How about after you won a Super Bowl, though?
A: When you win one, it’s the trap — you want to win the next one more. … You can’t win enough. You cannot win enough. But it’s not not win enough for the fans, and it’s not not win enough for the organization. … You can’t win enough for yourself.
Q: And the pursuit of that can sap you of …
A: With a personality like mine — and I know what my personality is — it beats the living s—t out of you. OK? Now, Dick Vermeil coined the phrase, or somebody did — burnout. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I know I’m it, whatever that term means. I don’t think it just means fatigued.
Q: But looking back now, two Super Bowl championships is pretty good, isn’t it?
A: It beats one (smile).
Q: Would you say that getting into the Hall of Fame is better than sex?
A: Absolutely (laugh).