Bill Parcells, trend-setter, team builder, innovator and "The Man with the
Plan" has proven throughout his career that he is synonymous with winning. One
of the most successful coaches in NFL history, Parcells led the New York Giants
to victories in Super Bowls XXI and XXV, and took the AFC Champion New England
Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI. Parcells is one of only two coaches in NFL
history to lead two different teams to the Super Bowl. The other is Hall of
Fame coach Don Shula.
Parcells' dream to become a NFL head coach began while as a teenager he watched
the New York Giants defeat the Chicago Bears in the 1956 NFL championship game.
The seed was planted. The young man born in Englewood, New Jersey in 1941
decided he would someday be an NFL coach.
Parcells graduated from River Dell High School in 1958 and, after a brief stint
at Colgate, went to Wichita State where he was a star linebacker. After he was
drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round, he decided to turn
immediately to coaching instead and took a position with Hastings College in
Nebraska. Parcells then returned to Wichita State where he was defensive coach
before he became assistant coach at West Point (1966), defensive coordinator at
Florida State (1970), defensive assistant at Vanderbilt (1973), and Texas Tech
(1975), and then head coach of the Air Force Academy in 1978. After a brief
stint as linebacker coach for the New England Patriots, Parcells joined the
Giants in 1981 as defensive coordinator.
Under Parcells' direction, the Giants defense improved dramatically. In 1980,
the team had allowed 425 points. However, under Parcells' guidance, the defense
improved from its No. 25 ranking to No. 3 and allowed only 257 points. They
also had the lowest average-per-rush (3.4) allowed and lowest average-per-play
(4.2) allowed.
Parcells was named head coach of the New York Giants beginning with the 1983
season. The boyhood dream had become a reality which would, in the next eight
years, again become dreamlike. Parcells established one of the highest winning
percentages of all NFL Coaches. He was named Coach of the Year in 1986 in all
the major polls. In 1989 he was named NFL Coach of the Year by NFL Films and
NFC Coach of the Year by the Washington Post. He was also named Coach of the
Year for the All-Madden team for the 1990 season.
To date, probably the greatest tribute to Parcells' success is the fact that he
took a struggling New York Giants and transformed them into world champions
that would claim the Super Bowl title in 1986 and 1991. In only eight years as
a head coach, Bill Parcells had accomplished what most coaches only hope to
accomplish in a lifetime.
After two successful years as an NFL football analyst for NBC Sports, Parcells
returned to coaching on January 21, 1993 as he took over as Head Coach of the
New England Patriots. With the ultimate goal of the Super Bowl in mind,
Parcells the team builder implemented his plan and took the Patriots, a 2-14
team in 1992, to a 10-6 mark and a playoff berth in 1994, and an 11-5 record in
1996, including the AFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl XXXI.
In addition to being an exceptional coach, Parcells is also an accomplished
author. He has written two books: his autobiography Parcells- The Biggest Giant
of Them All (1987), and Finding A Way To Win (1995), a book on the principles
of leadership, teamwork and motivation as they relate to any organization, not
just a football team.
