Patriots coach Bill Parcells and owner Robert Kraft arrived off stage together. — bob Super Bowl Merlin Photo

So Shaughnessy whacked the hornet’s nest with this one…

… and I wanted to address it here at Sports Q headquarters for a couple of reasons. First, as always, I’m curious what you think about it, and it’s a great topic. But beyond that, I wanted to address it because I can see both sides of the argument, though I think the side that says he doesn’t belong often makes the wrong argument.

For the record, I absolutely do believe Parcells belongs, and should have been elected long ago. Anyone making the argument that he was just a .500 coach here (32-32) needs a serious history lesson. The Patriots were a Bengals-level joke in the early ‘90s. They were probably going to move to St. Louis. They were basically the exact opposite of what they have become.

Parcells brought them instant – instant – credibility. He took the Patriots job in ’93 after two years in retirement. In his final season before that, he coached the Giants to their second Super Bowl victory. He made the decision to draft Drew Bledsoe over Rick Mirer. He cleaned house (adios, Irving Fryar) and went 5-11 in his first year, but that was as encouraging a 5-11 as you’ll find. Bledsoe developed, and they won their last four games.


The next year, they made the playoffs. They became a more disciplined team, one that was greater than the sum of its parts – and then it started adding some outstanding parts, such as Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Curtis Martin, Tedy Bruschi, and Lawyer Milloy. He brought Bill Belichick to New England. The Patriots team that got to the Super Bowl in 1996 was absolutely stacked with talent.

Anyone citing Parcells’s .500 record as a reason to keep him out doesn’t know their history.

There is a more valid reason he hasn’t been elected yet – he bailed out on the Patriots to join the rival Jets, doing the brunt of his negotiating in the build up to the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss to the Packers. It wasn’t exactly insubordination – I’m sure he wanted to win the game – but it was duplicitous to say the least, and borderline traitorous.

That’s something that takes time to forgive, and it probably doesn’t help his cause that he could be, let’s say, caustic with people with long memories in the franchise’s front office.

But 20 years into this dynasty, the perspective on his time here should be clear. Parcells developed players who formed the foundation of the first phase of the dynasty. He built a disciplined program that included bringing Belichick here and introducing him to the Krafts. And without him and Bledsoe, it’s very possible the St. Louis Patriots would have become a thing.


Parcells is 77 years old. I hope he gets his due from the Patriots soon. It was complicated, and it had a bad ending, but it changed the franchise for the better, pointing them in a direction we never could have imagined then. Get the man a red jacket already.

But what does everyone else think? Should Bill Parcells be in the Patriots’ Hall of Fame? I’ll hear you in the comments.