Dallas star: three years removed from his last coaching job, Bill Parcells hasn't lost any of his passion, edginess or penchant for mind games

Sporting News, The, August 18, 2003 by Paul Attner

Assuming he and Jerry Jones can coexist--so far, so good--the Cowboys will be back.

You should see the way new pals Bill Parcells and Jerry Jones have been carrying on these past few months. They sit around telling each other football stories, yapping away and just having a grand time. It is such an unlikely scene, a minefield of clashing egos and unfettered ambition driven by deliciously bombastic personalities. But they already have stumbled upon unexpected peaceful ground, a land of tales about coaches and players and games from a sport they both so dearly embrace.

That they are together at this point in their lives, aging bulls with more history than time on their sides, is remarkable. It has been so easy to view their relationship as unworkable, a sideshow that never would emerge as a successful main act. But surprisingly, Parcells and Jones have grown to like each other. They quickly found a bond---a passion for football that consumes them almost to the point of absurdity. And their shared enjoyment of a good yarn became a starting point for the peacock dance that accompanies every new romance.

Parcells has told friends that Jones is different than he expected, that it has been a lot easier than he anticipated to talk to him and enjoy his company. If Parcells came to Dallas with a built-in disdain for all things Jones and the Cowboys--"After all," he says, "for years it was the Dallas (bleeping) Cowboys"--that attitude at least has been modified, if not erased by Jones' hearty focus on the game.

He is much more of a football guy than Parcells had projected. And being a football guy is essential for any kind of standing within the Parcells value system. Those are the men he respects, not the wannabes he dismisses with disgust.

"We are of the same generation, you know," says the almost-62 Parcells about his boss, who is 60. "I find that we know about a lot of the same players, the same teams. I can talk about something from the past and Jerry is right there with me. Same when he tells me stuff, it's been fun to sit with him."

This doesn't mean Parcells agrees with all of Jones' work in Dallas. He has seen enough of his current Cowboys to know otherwise; these are Jones' players, and not enough of them are championship caliber.

But what has transpired in the months since the shocking hire will make it possible for Parcells to reshape the roster in a peaceful way. Instead of cutting a wide and quick swath through the franchise--out with the young, shaky quarterbacks, in with a veteran leader; out with the running backs, in with, oh, Stephen Davis--Parcells has reflected his unexpected respect for Jones by doing more holding than removing, by choosing to go through a training camp, and possibly a season, before delivering a final evaluation on the players he inherited. It is a gesture Jones appreciates; he is ultra-sensitive about his role as a personnel man, and Parcells has done nothing to embarrass him or diminish Jones' efforts in that area.

If he had his druthers, Parcells would bring in his own personnel guru, someone who understood thoroughly the type of player he wants for each position, someone like Jets super scout Dick Haley. But that, too, is a sensitive area, and it has not happened, at least not for this season. Parcells also will run a defensive scheme more akin to Tampa Bay's cover 2 than his own philosophy--and that includes using smallish linebackers instead of his much-preferred Lawrence Taylor-sized athletes. It's a nod to Jones' wish not to break up a defense that should be the strength of the team.

The Cowboys will be back. Not this year, but soon. And Parcells won't he the only reason. Until Jones finally acknowledged his way wasn't working, that life as he had painstakingly constructed it at Valley Ranch had to be altered dramatically--even if it meant reduced input from him--the Cowboys had no hope of resurrection. This is not a lip-service gesture by him, with an accompanying desire to obstruct Parcells as soon as glitches develop. Jones is a great enabler, which Parcells quickly has discovered; he has shown he is willing to spend generously to win.

Jones has worried forever about his football image; his hang-up over receiving proper credit for, among other things, his role in shaping rosters fostered his breakup with Jimmy Johnson. But now he says he is willing to co-partner with Parcells on personnel choices--or pull back even more. "I can't imagine a situation when I wouldn't defer to Bill's wishes when it comes to players," says Jones. "When yon come right down to it, this represents a change in philosophy for me. A deliberate change, might I add. I want to win that badly."

Parcells could say the same thing. He is willing to share thoughts with an owner instead of acting as if the owner were a boob (as he did with the Patriots' Robert Kraft) or having only occasional interaction (as was the case with the Jets' Leonard Hess). Jones hasn't been exiled to the Sahara for a year's vacation. He still attends practices, still sits in on personnel meetings, still spends time watching tape with coaches. He and his son, Stephen, the Cowboys' executive vice president of player personnel, still negotiate contracts and sign free agents. Those were among the many functions Parcells directed with the Jets before stepping down as coach after the 1999 season.