Cool, calm, collected coaches succeeding in the NFL

	The NFL lost one of its most animated and hostile coaches when Bill Parcells retired earlier this week. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Before I came to SI, I had the good fortune to work in the Time magazine offices, and one of perks was the right to peruse the sample CDs left out in the hallway by the music reviewers. The CDs were free for the taking, so I would pick up all kinds of random stuff, just to try it out. Once I grabbed a disc from a Norwegian group called The Kings of Convenience, simply because I was intrigued by album title: Quiet is the New Loud.

That CD, with song titles like Sing Softly To Me, was the softest piece of soft rock I'd ever heard -- and it wasn't bad. Good music to fall asleep to. I haven't listened to it in a couple years, but I thought of the phrase "Quiet is the New Loud" when I synthesizing the two big pieces of coaching news from the NFL:

1) Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are in the Super Bowl.

2) Bill Parcells has retired.

Much is being made of Smith and Dungy being the first two African-Americans to coach in the Super Bowl, for obvious and sensible reasons. But if you look beyond race, you see something else these guys have in common: their demeanor. Neither is a screamer. Neither fits the mold of the firebrand who tears the paint off the locker room wall with every halftime speech. Yes, they can raise their voices, but it's news when that happens. Usually they remain steady and even-keeled.

Parcells, of course, was just the opposite. The dyspeptic Parcells is a drill sergeant inside and out. He let anger parade across his face.

And for all he has done in his career, it's impossible to ignore: Parcells leaves Dallas having won more press conferences there than playoff games.

With Dungy and Smith reaching the pinnacle of their profession, and Parcells headed off to yell at the fish for a while, it may be a sign that the collective volume of the league's coaches is about to go down. There are plenty of other strong silent types like Smith and Dungy taking their place in the upper echelon of the coaching ranks: Coach of the Year Sean Payton has that same kind of steady demeanor, and no one in the league if more soft-spoken than Eric Mangini, the wunderkid of the moment after transforming the Jets in his rookie season. Who'd have thunk it: the title of the softest soft rock album ever is the perfect motto for today's generation of NFL leaders.

This week I like

-- This analogy offered up by SI Olympics/hockey writer Brian Cazeneuve, late in the Patriots-Colts game: Reche Caldwell = Jackie Smith. If you don't know what that means, ask a Dallas Cowboys fan.

-- Austin Murphy's story on Boise State in this week's magazine. Tremendous from start to finish.

-- The Old Spice commercial with Bruce Campbell.

-- Pan's Labyrinth. Although, as usual, too much gore for my taste.

-- Steve Martin's in this week's New Yorker. Also, in the same issue, from an item on Rich Little, 69, who is playing the White House correspondent's dinner: "When asked to name a young comedian he admired, he responded 'Robin Williams. He's just off the wall.'"

This week I don't like

-- Bill Belichick's clenched, agonized interview after the Patriots loss to the Colts. Yes, it's a tough time, and Belichick doesn't have a lot of practice doing these loser interviews, but good lord. You can't blame Solomon Wilcots for looking like he wanted to run away.