Parcells: A Biography

In January 2000, shortly after the New York Jets ended their '99 season, their coach, Bill Parcells, retired. By then he had won 149 games, lost 106, tied one, led three major pro football teams out of serious slumps, and taken two of them to the Super Bowl. He had made football history; he'd become the NFL's miracle man. Both intimidating and disarming, with a tongue like a whip and the temperament of a tyrant, Bill Parcells joined the failing New York Giants in 1983. By 1990 he'd twice taken the team to the Super Bowl. Three years later he took in tow the downtrodden New England Patriots, whom he propelled to the Super Bowl in his fourth season. He returned to New York in 1997, this time to rally the Jets. In two seasons the team with a lamentable 1–15 record had won a division title and missed the Super Bowl by only a game. In 1999, beleaguered by injuries to key players, the Jets nose-dived, losing six of its first seven games, but Parcells still managed to salvage the season with an 8–8 finish. While this biography candidly assesses the career of a consummate coach, it also examines the driving force that took hold of Parcells early and never let him go. Call it ambition, a dream, bulldog spirit, or perfectionism, it made him one of the winningest coaches in NFL history.