Parcells To Detroit Might Not Be A Pipe Dream After All

Was talking to Muneesh Jain, publisher of Motor City Sports Magazine, last night about the Lions' latest coaching search, and we bantied about some candidates. The talk turned to Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders. There are reports that Saunders is soon to be interviewed. But Muneesh stuck a big old caveat emptor into our discussion.

"Saunders makes me nervous, because I heard Matt Millen likes him," Munie said.

The dig there, of course, is that anyone Millen likes, we better not. It's hard to argue. Millen is 0-for-2 in his coaching searches, both of which were first-swing popouts that didn't get out of the infield.

Matt says he has learned this time -- lessons are never learned easily or cheaply in the NFL -- and that he will take his sweet time picking the next sacrificial lamb to lead his football team.

But there is one man that Millen likes -- everybody likes -- that should not cause us to run scampering in the other direction, screaming like banshees: Bill Parcells.

It may be a bunch of hogwash, but the idea of Parcells chucking it in Dallas is growing legs, and Detroit keeps getting mentioned as a possible destination. Millen and Parcells are old buddies, apparently, and Parcells has publicly voiced his respect and admiration for Lions owner Bill Ford.


Is Parcells eyeing Motown?


Yes, Parcells is still under contract to the Dallas Cowboys -- one year is left on a four-year deal -- but the written word has never meant all that much in the world of sports. As former Pistons coach Butch van Breda Kolff once said of contracts, "Hell, you can always quit. And they can fire you if they want."

Speaking of the contract, that's sort of the crux of the Parcells-to-Detroit rumors. There is an extension to that contract on the table from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and The Tuna hasn't signed it yet. The fact that he hasn't done so is causing football folks around the country -- okay, maybe just in Dallas and Detroit so far, and some writer types at FoxSports.com -- to speculate that Parcells is mulling over wiggling out of the written word in Dallas so that he may bail out his friend Millen in Detroit. Big D to Little D.

There is even further speculation that if Parcells comes to Detroit, he will take quarterback Drew Bledsoe with him. That may not be a bad package deal for the Lions, if the price was right.

I at first dismssed talk of Parcells as the next Lions coach as mere hopeful blather of Lions fans who will latch onto just about anything to inject hope into their football team. They are like barnacles that way. I thought Parcells' health was a concern and his desire to coach might be waning. Turns out neither of those things are true, according to those lovely "close sources" to the coach.

Bill Parcells is, frankly, exactly the kind of coach the Lions need right now. He isn't necessarily the offensive innovator that I would like, but he is also smart enough to bring those types along with him. He is the master of getting the most out of his players and turning organizations around and pointing them in the proper direction. He is no-nonsense and has a glittering resume. His name is the first off people's tongues around here when they are queried, "What kind of coach do the Lions need?"

Forget Mike Singletary. Forget Jim Haslett. Both of these men are reportedly destined to arrive any day now for interviews. Go ahead and talk to them, but neither fits the bill -- Parcells or no Parcells. I'll say it once again: the new coach better make this football team exciting again and not be afraid to stretch defenses with something called the forward pass. You remember those, don't you? They're the ones that travel further than five yards in the air.

But the new coach must also possess the toughness and demand for accountability that has never truly been here under Bill Ford's ownership. For too long the Lions have been coached by "player's coaches", i.e. Wayne Fontes and Steve Mariucci types.

Matt Millen says he wants the new coach to reflect the city of Detroit, which he calls "tough" and "straightforward" and that "knows its football."

You could do far worse than Bill Parcells, if that's how you choose to define the next coach.