SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — It's a glorious summertime Sunday afternoon in upstate New York. Sun shining, blue sky, a gentle breeze that causes the hanging baskets filled with purple flowers on Bill Parcells' porch to sway ever so slightly.
On this day, Parcells has driven his black Cadillac sedan to a nearby golf course, where he's holding court with three people inside the clubhouse bar. Harness races blare from one television. Another is showing soccer. A third, the one nearest to him, is tuned to a St. Louis Cardinals game, no coincidence since they're managed by Parcells' close friend Tony La Russa. He leans back in his chair, telling a story. Looking tan and relaxed, Parcells is clearly at ease.
"The happiest place I know,” the longtime NFL coach says of Saratoga Springs, repeating a refrain he's used before.
It's a strong claim that leads to questions, which must be asked. He is 66 years old. He's financially secure. He loves to golf and watch horses and go out to dinner, and perhaps no place on earth offers a better combination of those three hobbies than Saratoga Springs, which has the famed thoroughbred track less than five minutes from Parcells' front door. Servers at his favorite haunts, like the West Side Stadium (where pictures of him hang on the bar and his autograph is displayed in the corner) and the Wishing Well, fawn over him. Jets, Giants and Patriots fans, and there's an abundance of backers of his former teams in these parts, treat him like a deity.
Why, then, is this not enough to leave Parcells satisfied?
Why, then, did he get lured back into the NFL and accept the challenge of rebuilding the Miami Dolphins from the front office, taking over a team that went 1-15, the worst record in the league, last season? Why is he compelled to start over and try to fix a franchise with more holes than his beloved home golf course? Why can't he simply spend his summer mornings at the track and watch his trainer friends like Nick Zito and D. Wayne Lukas work out their horses and enjoy the relaxing pace of retirement?
Parcells doesn't hesitate before offering the answer.
"I like football,” he says. "I've always liked it. The clock's ticking for guys like me. When you're 66, you know you can't do it forever. Sometime you'll have to get off the train. But I still like it and I've been very fortunate to be allowed to be associated with this game and people in this game for a long time. So that's why.”
So that's why his Saratoga fix is, once again, temporary. Another training camp awaits, his first with the Dolphins, his first since taking a four-year, $20 million assignment from Miami owner H. Wayne Huizenga to make his team, somehow, someday, a Super Bowl contender.
Parcells insists that he isn't the star of this show, that he's just the chief overseer of coach Tony Sparano and general manager Jeff Ireland, his hand-picked lieutenants for this Miami mission, both of whom came with him to South Beach from Dallas.
"It's not my program. It's Jeff Ireland's and Tony Sparano's program,” Parcells insists. "They're the ones that are charged with the day-to-day dealings with the Miami Dolphins. I'm just trying to get the structure in place. That's what I'm charged with doing. That's my job. And it's not the same kind of job I've had before. And people can't separate that.”
But most players believe, even though Parcells won't be the on-field boss, he'll be the principal architect of everything the Dolphins do going forward.
"It's a whole different attitude,”
