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Still retired Parcells won't coach Jets, recommends Groh for job
Posted: Saturday January 22, 2000 10:04 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Parcells won't be on the sidelines for the New York Jets next season. Bill Belichick won't, either, even if he still is their property. On a day when the NFL ruled in favor of the Jets in Belichick's grievance against the team, Parcells reaffirmed his intention to retire from coaching. An NFL source told The Associated Press on Friday night that Parcells reiterated to Woody Johnson, the Jets' new owner, that he doesn't want to coach anymore. He also recommended linebackers coach Al Groh to take over the post that Belichick didn't want. Groh is expected to be announced on Monday as the new coach. "He simply doesn't want to coach anymore," the source said of Parcells. "He's sticking by what he decided." He's also expected to stick around as the team's chief of football operations. Earlier Friday, commissioner Paul Tagliabue upheld the Jets' rights to Belichick through the 2000 season. Tagliabue ruled Belichick breached his contract, which has three years remaining, when he resigned as coach of the Jets on Jan. 4 -- one day after Parcells stepped down -- and cannot work for another team this year without the Jets' approval. That means compensation, which almost certainly would be in the form of draft picks. The New England Patriots are eager to hire Belichick for their vacant head coaching position. And Belichick's representatives, lawyers Neil Cornrich and Jeffrey Kessler, are threatening to sue the NFL, which they say is unlawfully forbidding Belichick from shopping himself. "We think the commissioner's decision is unlawful and we are actively assessing all of our legal options," Cornrich said. "Taken as a whole, the contract and the related memoranda constitute an agreement that Mr. Belichick would be the Jets' head coach except when Mr. [Bill] Parcells served in that capacity," Tagilabue ruled in a grievance filed by Belichick. "The agreement contemplated that Mr. Belichick would automatically succeed to the head coaching position if Mr. Parcells was no longer head coach." In 1997, the Jets sent four draft picks to New England to get Parcells released from his contract with the Patriots. Questions of possible tampering by the Jets raised those stakes. Now it is New England seeking the coach who is under contract -- Belichick, who came to New York with Parcells and was defensive coordinator and coach-in-waiting until earlier this month. Don't expect the Jets to get four picks for Belichick, however. He doesn't have Parcells' track record. While Parcells has led three teams to the Super Bowl, Belichick had one winning season in five at Cleveland. Something along the lines of a pair of second-rounders is more likely. Tagliabue rejected claims by Belichick that he never actually assumed the head coaching job. The commissioner cited "more than 10" discussions between Belichick and Parcells about the prospect of Belichick becoming coach after the 1999 season. Tagliabue denied the Jets' claim that Belichick should be barred from leaving for another team for the remaining three years on his contract. This ruling applied to 2000 only. Tagliabue cited the uncertainty in the Jets' coaching situation, and told both sides to address three points by Feb. 1:
Patriots spokesman Stacey James said, "This information doesn't change anything with us. It's still between Belichick and the Jets."
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