Tuna is not a food associated with New Orleans cuisine.
Likewise, Bill Parcells would be a fish out of water if the New Orleans Saints do in fact decide to bring him in as head coach for the 2012 season.
New Orleans has had enough to deal with in the past month, from Drew Brees’ contract negotiations to head coach Sean Payton’s yearlong suspension. Bringing in Parcells to run the show for one season doesn’t make sense.
With the Saints trying to make sure Brees stays in the Big Easy,
hiring a new coach with a new coaching style is not the right move.
Parcells’ teams with the New York Giants and New York Jets used dominant running backs like Joe Morris and Curtis Martin to power the offense. The Saints’ attack is predicated on Brees throwing 50 times every game – not running the ball and trying to control the clock.
The Saints want to bring in Parcells for one reason – to stick it to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. If Payton can’t coach New Orleans for the 2012 season, what better way to one-up Goodell than by hiring an NFL coaching legend?
The supposed plan of bringing in Parcells will hit a roadblock if Payton somehow convinces Goodell to reduce his yearlong
suspension. That won’t happen.
Goodell had to set a precedent for the Saints in what might be the biggest scandal in NFL history. He hasn’t taken it easy on any NFL coach or player since he landed the commissioner gig in 2006.
On one hand, it makes logical sense for Payton to want to bring Parcells onboard for a season at the helm.
Payton served as assistant coach under Parcells in Dallas from 2003 to 2005 and has turned to the two-time Super Bowl winning coach for guidance since becoming the head coach of the Saints in 2006.
But Parcells wouldn’t know what to do with a team like the Saints. He’s a franchise rebuilder.
New Orleans doesn’t need that.
One year is not enough time for Parcells to put his stamp on this Saints team. Bringing him in won’t be a quick fix to the Saints’ disastrous offseason.
What happens if New Orleans wins the Super Bowl in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome? Do the Saints just say goodbye to Parcells and welcome back Payton with open arms?
The last time The Big Tuna paced an NFL sideline as a head coach was for the Dallas Cowboys in a 2006 NFC Wildcard Game, when quarterback Tony Romo infamously couldn’t handle the snap on an extra point with 1:19 left of the game and the Cowboys lost to the Seattle Seahawks, 21-20.
In the words of Lucius in “Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Don’t you bring that evil on the Saints, Bill Parcells.”
Parcells would be nothing but a glorified babysitter if he indeed lands in New Orleans.
Ex-defensive coordinator and ringleader of Bountygate Gregg Williams was suspended by Goodell indefinitely, and New Orleans brought in former St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo to run the defense this year.
Spagnuolo would be the head coach in Payton’s absence. He will inherit a much more talented team than he did in St. Louis.
Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael has been mentioned as a possible fill-in for Payton this season, but he isn’t a good fit either.
Carmichael already has enough on his plate having to take over the play-calling duties in Payton’s absence. Throwing the head coach label on top of his current responsibilities would just make a bigger mess than the Saints’ coaching staff already is.
Keeping it in-house is the answer for the Saints.
Any outside hire – not just Parcells – would be a bad decision to fill the head-coaching position for just one season.
Micah Bedard is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Houma. Follow him on Twitter
@DardDog.
 
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Contact Micah Bedard at [email protected]