Moving quickly to fill the two most important spots on his coaching staff, Bill Parcells on Monday chose Maurice Carthon as the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator and retained Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator.

This will mark the third time that Carthon, 41, will work on a Parcells-led staff. He was the running backs coach for Parcells at New England (1994-96) and assistant head coach and running backs coach with the New York Jets (1997-2000).

Carthon was a fullback for Parcells during his tenure with the New York Giants and played on Super Bowl championship teams in 1986 and '92. He spent seven seasons with the Giants and one year with Indianapolis before he retired and began his coaching career.

He joined the Detroit staff in 2001, serving that season as the running backs coach for Marty Mornhinweg, and then Carthon was elevated to the offensive coordinator spot in 2002.

Carthon had one more season remaining on his Lions contract but ESPN.com confirmed that, when the Parcells hiring became official, Carthon candidly told Detroit team president Matt Millen that he preferred to rejoin his old boss.

"It's really all about Bill," Carthon said. "He's been able to turn things around everywhere he has been and I'm sure he'll do the same here."

There had been much speculation since his hiring last week that Parcells would attempt to bring longtime associate Dan Henning, who is currently the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, with him. Parcells never made a strong effort, however, in that direction.

Said Parcells of Carthon: "I love this guy. He is the kind of guy who will cover your backside."

Zimmer, 46, joined the Cowboys staff in 1994 and will be working under his fourth different head coach with the team. He began as a secondary coach for the Cowboys, then moved to coordinator in 2000, when Dave Campo was promoted to head coach.

To this point, Zimmer is the only aide from the Campo staff to be officially retained, but Parcells is said to be considering others as well.

Under Campo, the Cowboys had the NFL's lowest-scoring offense, averaging fewer than 14 points a game. The team was unable to make the transition to his West Coast-style offense.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.