Glad You Brought This Up...

I was not thinking of this because I am not sold on him being done, but the Parcells legacy and his place in history is a fascinating one. He is one of an exclusive group to win more than one Super Bowl, as well as part of an exclusive group of bringing more than one franchise to the Super Bowl. He is arguably considered the greatest head coach in the history of both the Jets and the Giants. He also won his last Super Bowl in 1990-1991, and brought as much controversy as winning to his coaching spots post-Giants. His least impressive job was without a doubt the Cowboys, which has to be considered unsuccessful. Even for the a guy not named Parcells, this job would not be praised. In the pantheon of NFL coaches, Parcells is up there but without a doubt behind a few.

I will rank him against Bellichick, Shanahan, Holmgren, Walsh, Gibbs, Levy, Seifert, Johnson.

1. Bill Bellichik
2. Bill Walsh
3. Bill Parcells
4. Joe Gibbs
5. Mike Holmgren
6. Mike Shanahan
7. George Seifert
8. Marv Levy

Bellichick and Walsh are on a level of their own. Each have three Super Bowls and are known as "geniuses" and innovators (Walsh-offense, Bellichick-defense).

I rank Parcells over Gibbs for a couple of reasons. From the time Parcells entered the NFL as a head coach until this season, every season that the two of them were head coaches at the same time, they were in the NFC East together. Thus their head to head record means a lot. Parcells has a 14-9 record against Gibbs. In addition, two of Gibbs wins came in Parcells first season where his team won only three games total, and two other came in the strike season of 1987 when the Skins won it all and the Giants struggled immensely with replacement players. In their one postseason match-up the Giants were victorious in the 1986-87 NFC title game.

I have Parcells over the rest for many differing reasons. This is truly a great debate. One thing I will concede to any opposition is that Parcells and his legacy may be over-rated due to the fact that he coached a majority of his career in New York.

Oh....and I love the Melo/AI connection. The West is soooo nasty though, who know how far they can go....?

STKAFI