***

The next question is who Parcells will go after to build his new organization. That decision might lead to some trouble. When Huizenga hired Parcells, the owner said, "Anything that has anything to do with football, directly or indirectly, reports to Bill. That includes doctors and trainers and everything. Everybody is going to report to him.''

Well, unless a front-office executive Parcells might consider hiring has his contract expire with his current team at the end of this year, or the guy is currently working without a contract (not altogether uncommon in the personnel business), Parcells might have a fight on his hands to woo a top personnel executive.

The NFL rule is that if a front-office man does not have control over the draft and free agency, and he is being offered a job with that final football authority, then his team would be obligated to allow him to interview if permission were requested.

Will that apply in Miami? Maybe.

There's a good chance that if Dallas' Jones were asked by Miami for permission to speak with Ireland, he might say (as might any smart-thinking NFL executive), "Hold on here. Why should I allow my top personnel man to go somewhere where he might have the title of GM, but we all know he wouldn't be free to make the final football decisions?'' In other words, Parcells might say his GM is free to make those kinds of decisions, but it would be up to the league to determine whether a new hire would really have that kind of authority.

I spoke with Parcells twice about this on Sunday. The first time, I told him what I thought -- that a team with a good personnel guy might challenge the Dolphins' ability to hire that personnel guy with the promise of giving him final football authority, because they would say Parcells is the real final football voice.

"That's not the way it is," he said from his home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. "We set it up so the general manager I hire will have that authority. I want to make it clear: I don't want to be the general manager. I don't want to be the head coach. I told Wayne that very clearly. I don't think it will be an issue.''

A few minutes later, Parcells called back. "You got me thinking,'' he said, "so I got my contract out. I wanted to be sure about the wording.''

Then he read me the wording of what he said were the applicable clauses in the contract. "'As Executive Vice President of Football Operations,'" Parcells read, "'employee shall be responsible for overseeing the club's football operations. Employee shall act as club designee for purpose of [executing] contracts with head coach and general manager.'"

Said Parcells: "So what I am is the owner's designee. My job is to hire a coach, hire a GM and put a structure in place for them to operate.''

Will the league buy that? As I said on NBC last night, I believe there's a good chance some team might bring a grievance against the Dolphins over this.

"I'm not worried about it,'' Parcells said.

Clearly, the league could be skeptical about allowing any front-office man currently under contract to leave for a GM job in Miami the way it's structured right now. I could see NFL executive VP and legal counsel Jeff Pash asking Huizenga, with a jaundiced eye: "You're paying Bill Parcells $3 million a year or so, and you're telling me you want to hire someone to have final football authority in the organization over him? That's not going to fly.''

Remember, though, that if a personnel man is working without a contract, or if his team allows him permission to leave (which I could see happen with the gentlemanly Packers and good-soldier Schneider, if Miami were interested), the Dolphins would be allowed to interview that candidate.

It's way too early to predict what will happen in Miami. An educated guess would be that Parcells aims for a strong personnel man, then interviews a slew of NFL assistants -- and not just those he knows -- to be the new head coach. It wouldn't surprise me if he went for a smart, malleable, egoless, unknown type -- like Dallas assistant head coach Tony Sparano -- as his new coach.

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