No rest, no smiles for Parcells -- yet

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Posted: Tuesday January 12, 1999 07:12 PM

So close: A win on Sunday and Parcells will make his fourth Super Bowl appearance and an unprecedented third with a different franchise (Giants, Patriots and Jets) AP

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- These should be the best of times for Bill Parcells. He should be riding an emotional tidal wave straight out to Denver for the AFC Championship game.

Instead, Parcells looks tired, at times even weary of the grind that can eat up football coaches. During his news conference on Monday, as he reflected on the Jets' 34-24 victory over Jacksonville that moved this usually beleaguered franchise within one win of its first Super Bowl in 30 years, Parcells eyes sometimes seemed glassy. He hadn't slept much -- he rarely does during a season, and especially in the playoffs -- and he wasn't his normal, bombastic self. In fact, Parcells seemed almost subdued at times.

Is this how a man within sight of his fourth Super Bowl appearance and an unprecedented third with a different franchise (Giants, Patriots and Jets) is expected to act?

"For me, it is on to the next thing, and that is what is sad," Parcells said, reflecting on the stressful, insanely competitive nature of his job. "Success is never final. Never. There is always more to do.

"It can be arduous. It is hard work to get to where you are now. You've got to reteach your team every week, because it's a new environment every week."

To emphasize the inability to truly enjoy the process of competing for a championship, Parcells spoke of his meeting with Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin long after Sunday's game. He saw his close friend and former assistant in the parking lot at Giants Stadium.

"I talked to him very briefly," Parcells said. "He said, 'Do you believe my guy trying to lateral?' And I said, 'Did you see our guy not covering at the half?' And he said, 'Did you believe our guy trying to run out of the end zone?'

"We both said that is what the kids do nowadays."

The kids Parcells is coaching have given him much satisfaction, which he readily admits. Of course, Parcells is putting more and more time into getting the best out of them. Often, he's in his office by sunrise.

"You have your own things that elevate your standards and you try to go on to the next thing," he said. "Or else you will have others elevating your standards.

"There is more pressure to win now [and] on ownership to change things; it's 'Look what we're doing to make things better.' They should add a maybe to that ... maybe better."

Sometimes it seems Parcells longs for the days when he could devote all of his time to teaching -- and that he could count on having the same players to teach, game after game, season after season.

"This is a different era in football," he said. "Every industry in our society has changed a lot, they are more transient. It is not unlike what is typical of industry in this country, and people are going to change jobs.

"It is unfair to compare what was before. Before free agency, you could develop players. The teams in those days, hardly anyone coaching one team knew anybody coaching the other team. You really didn't know the people, and now you have so much more interaction. I don't think it is fair to compare."

At other times, he sort of relishes the challenges of today and the machinery in place to solve the ills of a team.

"I go back to my friend, Stick Michael," he said of the former baseball general manager, "and that advice he gave me is as good as any I got: It is not about getting a superstar here and there, but about putting together a team so your needs are met, not the public's needs or the media's needs.

"It's not window-dressing, that is not what you need to do.

"Last year, I needed a center, and so I had to try to get a center. And we got a center [free agent Kevin Mawae, who had a superb year]."

He could probably use some rest, but that won't be coming for awhile. So he plows on, brightened a bit by the Jets' impressive accomplishments just two years after going 1-15. And three months after beginning the season 0-2.

Back then, did he think a spot in the AFC title game possible?

"No," he admitted. "I didn't even know if the next week would be possible."

 

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