'Fins may land elusive Parcells, but is he right hire?

Bill Parcells is currently serving as an analyst for ESPN, but reportedly is talking to multiple teams about joining them in a major role. Damian Strohmeyer/SI

The only thing that jumps to mind is that I've seen this movie before -- several times actually -- and I know how it ends. Some how, some way, even though the story is painfully familiar, "The Return of Bill Parcells'' always has a surprise plot twist or two before it's over.

He's at it again, folks. The man they call the Tuna isn't going to Atlanta to be the Falcons' football czar after all. After being confident enough to say in recent hours that he was "pretty sure'' he was going to take the team's vice president of football operations job, and that he didn't see any "deal-breakers,'' Parcells-to-Atlanta is kaput. Naturally.

That's because Parcells is reportedly headed to Miami. But don't you dare call it a done deal. That would be like ignoring history and being doomed to repeat it. For a guy who has such a rich and long history of flirting with, but ultimately spurning job offers, could this latest Parcells saga have gone any other way?

Never one to focus on one opportunity when he can entertain two, Parcells had both the Falcons and the Dolphins pursuing him Wednesday, even after Atlanta owner Arthur Blank thought he had an agreement in principle with ex-Dallas head coach Tuesday night.

Last week, Blank said he felt "betrayed'' by his former head coach Bobby Petrino, who abruptly resigned last Tuesday to accept the University of Arkansas coaching job. Now Parcells reneges. It's like déjà vu all over again.

Reading between the lines, it sounds a little like the deal with Atlanta fell apart when Blank started to get the feeling that Parcells was playing the Falcons in order to get the best possible offer out of Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga. Blank is idealistic enough that maybe he wanted Parcells to grant the Falcons exclusivity in their negotiations, and when that wasn't offered, both sides in essence walked away.

Sources near the situation say that Parcells has been talking to Huizenga, at least informally, for a matter of weeks now. Unable to get Parcells to commit to heading the Dolphins football operations, Huizenga is said to have grown frustrated and so fed up that he wasn't even certain that he wanted to continue to own the team going forward. That seems to jibe with the reports last week that Huizenga had been contacted by potential buyers of the team, even though he said he wasn't "actively'' shopping it.

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