Bill Parcells needs to provide stability for Miami Dolphins

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-flsphyde03sbmay03,0,7690012.column

Bill Parcells needs to provide stability for Miami Dolphins

Dave Hyde | Sports Columnist

May 3, 2008

DAVIE - There was the new owner walking the grounds. There was the new vice president inspecting the beef. There was the new general manager. The new coach. New coordinators. New quarterback. Newer, even higher, draft hope.

Do you know what felt old around the Dolphins on Friday during their first sweat toward the next season?

This entire feeling of newness. It's a ridiculous rite of spring around here. Some franchises smell like roses. This franchise constantly smells like the inside of a new car. And that's what must change if the fortunes ever do.

For the third year in a row and the fourth time in five years the Dolphins have a new coach, new general manager and new quarterback, whoever it becomes.

Any one of those jobs changing would mark a significant shift in the direction of the franchise. But all of them in one offseason? Again? And a new owner in Stephen Ross, too?

It's hard to say if this is the residue of a 1-15 record or an example of why the Dolphins got this awful in the first place.

Once upon a time, Don Shula and Dan Marino broke bread and the huddle here for 13 consecutive seasons. There was an order to what they formed together, as well as a sense of greatness involved, even if the grumbling around the edges was they never won The Big One.

That's sounds silly now, in a stretch where the Dolphins have trouble winning any one and the regimes keep changing like shirts.

If it's 2008, it must be Bill Parcells. He stood there Friday, arms often folded, watching rookies run through drills.

He already has been labeled many things since his arrival in South Florida: Winner, builder, champion, savior.

But the most accurate description of him is this: mercenary. And, like any mercenary, Parcells has a legacy of jumping towns for bigger paychecks whenever he can.

So here's the primary and most primitive of needs from the Parcells Era: an actual era from Parcells. He needs to fulfill the four years of his contract. That's probably a year longer than most people expect him to stay.

But the cost of constant change is becoming staggering around the Dolphins. Already this offseason, another round of changes has shipped out linebacker Zach Thomas and the flashy Lorenzo Booker, who was not considered part of this new "system."

Potentially, it will cost them last year's second-round pick, quarterback John Beck. And who knows where Jason Taylor will be when the music stops?

Pro football is much more complicated than other team sports because you don't just need the right players working together in lock step for a while. You need to get the right players for your system working together for a while.

That's why Parcells has to stay with this franchise for his full contract. He has to allow General Manager Jeff Ireland and coach Tony Sparano, whose credibility is tied to Parcells, to become rooted in their jobs.

Or Parcells has to find people to do those jobs successfully if they can't.

This doesn't mean you have to believe Parcells was crowned at some time, like New Yorkers believe. He has, after all, won only one more playoff game since 1992 than Shula. Of course, Shula has been retired since 1995, too.

But Parcells is the name on the mantel now and the Dolphins need it to stay there a while. The rookies, being rookies, believe fully in it.

"Yesterday we sat down for lunch and he sat down at the table right behind us and all of us sort of sat up a little bit and watched what we were saying," new Dolphins guard Shawn Murphy said. "It's a strange feeling to have a legend sit down to the table next to you and eat lunch."

Murphy said he tapped fellow rookie Donald Thomas on the shoulder to point out Parcells.

"He sort of gave me a look and we both just sat there, sort of in awe for a little bit, and tried to keep quiet and not embarrass ourselves."

Once, rookies talked about Jimmy Johnson like that in his first camp. They talked in fear of Nick Saban. They talked in more human terms but with less respect about Dave Wannstedt and Cam Cameron.

Now it's Parcells turn. And he's not even the new coach or new GM. He's just the guy this franchise needs to stick around for his contract. Will he stay?

"Sorry," he said when asked after practice if he'd answer a question.

Maybe next time.