Parcells, "Bill" (Duane C.)
Football
b. Aug. 22, 1941, Englewood, NJ
Parcells played football at Wichita State University, graduating in 1964, and then served as an assistant coach at several colleges until 1978, when he became head coach at the Air Force Academy. He was replaced after a 3-8-0 record.
In 1980, Parcells joined the coaching staff of the NFL's New England Patriots. He went to the New York Giants as an assistant the following season and took over as head coach in 1983.
After going 3-12-1 in his first season with the Giants, Parcells guided the team to three consecutive playoff appearances and an NFL championship after the 1986 season with a 39-20 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI. He was named the league's coach of the year by The Sporting News for that accomplishment.
The Giants slipped to 6-9-0 in 1987, but had a 10-6-0 record in 1988 without getting into the playoffs. Parcells had a 25-7-0 regular season mark over the next two years and the Giants won their second Super Bowl victory after the 1990 season, beating the Buffalo Bills 20-19.
Because of a heart condition, Parcells announced his retirement from coaching early in 1991 and worked as a television analyst. The condition was cleared up by angioplasty and Parcells lost considerable weight during the next year. He seemed ready to return to coaching in 1992, interviewing for jobs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Green Bay Packers. But, after having accepted the Tampa Bay job, he suddenly changed his mind.
In 1993, Parcells accepted the head coaching position with the New England Patriots. The team lost 10 of its first 11 games that season, then won four in a row before suffering another loss in the final game of the year. The Patriots improved to 10-6 in 1994, making the playoffs for the first time in eight years. After slipping back to 6-10 in 1995, New England had an 11-5 record in 1996 and made it to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Green Bay Packers.
But Parcells didn't like the fact that he didn't have the final say about personnel, although he hadn't had it with the Giants, either. He left the Patriots to take over the New York Jets in 1997. Because he still had a year left on his contract with New England, the Jets had to give the Patriots four draft choices in compensation.
The Jets had won a total of just four games in the previous two seasons, but they immediately improved to 9-7. In 1998, they had a 12-4 regular season record and went to the AFC playoff game, where they lost to the Denver Broncos, who went on to win the Super Bowl. However, the team slipped to 8-8 the following season and Parcells announced that he was retiring from coaching.
He did spend some time out of football, but in 2002 he interviewed for the Tampa Bay coaching job and reportedly agreed to contract terms before backing away with the statement, "I'm finished coaching. There aren't going to be any more rumors about me coaching." However, less than a year later he took over the Dallas Cowboys, who had gone 5-11 for three straight seasons. Parcells turned them around to 10-6 and a playoff appearance in his first season. That made him the first coach in NFL history to take four different teams to the playoffs.
