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| Tuesday, January 9 Associated Press | |||
| NEW YORK -- Bill Parcells has gone from the NFL to the
broadcast booth and back. He could be riding down that career path
again.
Representatives of Parcells, who quit Tuesday as the New York
Jets' director of football operations, already have contacted Fox
Sports and ESPN.
"We received a phone call late yesterday afternoon from a
representative of Bill Parcells. But to my knowledge no two-way
communication has taken place yet," Fox Sports vice president Lou
D'Ermilio said Tuesday. "Any network would be fortunate to add
Bill given his vast experience in the sport."
Fox has an opening for an NFL game analyst because Matt Millen
left the network to become the Detroit Lions' president and CEO.
ESPN lost Marty Schottenheimer, who became the Washington
Redskins coach, but his spot as a studio analyst on "NFL 2Night"
might not have as high a profile as Parcells wants.
A better fit could be "NFL Countdown," ESPN's Sunday pregame
show, although there doesn't appear to be any openings there. Last
year, after Parcells quit as the Jets' coach, he was offered a job
on that program that eventually went to Steve Young.
"We have had brief conversation with his representatives and we
will talk further with him if Parcells is interested," ESPN
spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.
Parcells' known dislike of flying would make him a better fit
for a studio analyst job than a game commentator.
"I think Bill could be a wonderful analyst, but we're very
satisfied with our game and studio analysts and just don't have any
room," CBS Sports president Sean McManus said.
When he quit as coach of the New York Giants after guiding them
to two Super Bowl titles, Parcells worked as an analyst and in the
studio for NBC during the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. He left to
coach the New England Patriots, and then moved to the Jets.
Parcells' asking price, thought to be in the range of $1.5
million to $2 million, could be a sticking point in negotiations.
"We've received calls from 11 or 12 analysts that are
interested in filling the void at Fox left by Matt Millen's
departure," D'Ermilio said. "No decision about his replacement is
imminent."
In discussing his resignation from the Jets, Parcells compared
football to a narcotic, saying, "It's hard to get it out of your
system sometimes."
Asked about his interest in TV work, Parcells said: "There are
some reports already that I'm talking to people in television;
that's not true. I've had no discussions with anybody about
anything."
But like Schottenheimer and others such as Dick Vermeil and Mike
Ditka, Parcells might not be ready to hop off the merry-go-round
that turns coaches into commentators and vice versa.
"He enjoys fishing -- not just for trout but for jobs. He loves
the action," said HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg, who met
with Parcells last year about joining "Inside the NFL." | ALSO SEE
Parcells says he's gone; who's at controls of Jets? | ||