Excellent post about BB on Jets Insider

[The Gr8est]

http://www.jetsinsider.net/forums/showthread.php?t=154144&page=2

Check out the post by SAR I about the history of BB's departure from the Jets on page 2 of the thread. Does that jive with everyone else's memories of this incident? Appears to be a well written and truthful recount of the facts of BB's resignation from the Jets.

 

[BelichickFan]

Yeah, his agreement to be HC was with a different owner - he was already considered a one time HC failure (though that's debatable) in Cleveland and knew he only had one more chance left. He wasn't stupid enough to enter into an unknown situation.

 

[Pats726]

When was the BB "embarrassing" news conference??? It seemed Parcells kind of pushed teh HC job on him..and he didn't want it at all...was that on Jan 5th??

 

[BelichickFan]

When was the BB "embarrassing" news conference??? It seemed Parcells kind of pushed teh HC job on him..and he didn't want it at all...was that on Jan 5th??

I think it was January 3. That was definitely the day that Carrol was fired, Parcells resigned and Belichick "became" HC - I remember because I was in the hospital as my second son was born that day and I was going nuts trying to follow the goings on Could have been a day or two later when Belichick resigned though. Man that was some time with the fight over Belichick to follow.

 

[Pats726]

I think it was January 3. That was definitely the day that Carrol was fired, Parcells resigned and Belichick "became" HC - I remember because I was in the hospital as my second son was born that day and I was going nuts trying to follow the goings on Could have been a day or two later when Belichick resigned though. Man that was some time with the fight over Belichick to follow.

That was a total embarrassing PC..I remember listening at work..and it just went on and on for an hour...and he talked was open..but it was NOT a good time..it was clearly one weird situation.

 

[marty]

I'm sure there was much more going on behind the sceans than we will ever know but what I remember was that BB was in line to get the HC job after Parcells was to "retire". Then Parcell agreed to become the GM, with control over BB, which was not what BB signed up for, thus he resigned. IMO BB was getting screwed by Jets ownership and didn't want to have anything to do with it.

 

[PYPER]

http://www.jetsinsider.net/forums/showthread.php?t=154144&page=2

Check out the post by SAR I about the history of BB's departure from the Jets on page 2 of the thread. Does that jive with everyone else's memories of this incident? Appears to be a well written and truthful recount of the facts of BB's resignation from the Jets.

I read the post but its a little incomplete. It doesn't address why Belichick was pissed at Parcells for a long time.

Parcells didn't actually retire until a few days after Kraft called him requesting permission to speak to Belichick about the Patriots opening.

Kraft and Belichick had bonded during Belichick's stay there during the '96 Super Bowl year. After competing against the Parcells/Belichick Jets, Kraft (and many Patriots' players and fans) became convinced that Belichick was the key man to Parcells' success.

Parcells may have stayed HC of the Jets for another year if doing so wouldn't have cost him losing Belichick to the Patriots.

Instead of doing what was right by Belichick, Parcells acted only in his own self-interest. He didn't want Belichick to go to Kraft and the Patriots. By resigning he essentially "Forced" the Jets job on Belichick. Belichick was pissed b/c he felt he deserved the opportunity to make his own decision. He knew that this might be his last opportunity to land a head coaching job and he wanted to make sure he took the job that gave him the best chance to succeed in.

The Jets situation was filled with question marks. Who was going to be the owner? What kind of owner would he be? What would Parcells involvement be? Would Belichick be allowed final say on anything?

New York would have been a no-win situation for Belichick. Every success he experienced there would have been attributed to Parcells, due to the relationship that existed between Parcells and the media in New York. The only thing that would ever be credited to Belichick is if the team failed.

Kraft, meanwhile, was someone Belichick felt would be a good fit for him. The two of them bonded back in '96 and shared many of the same ideas about how an organization must be run. And then, of course, there is the fact that Kraft was willing to give Belichick full control and final say over everything.

Out of the two situations, it was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the New York media never let the New York fanbase know the facts of the situation. They were too busy painting Belichick as a villain. That's what you get when you allow your news sources to repeatedly use sensationalism to sell papers and built ratings.

 

[The Gr8est]

I read the post but its a little incomplete. It doesn't address why Belichick was pissed at Parcells for a long time.

Parcells didn't actually retire until a few days after Kraft called him requesting permission to speak to Belichick about the Patriots opening.

Kraft and Belichick had bonded during Belichick's stay there during the '96 Super Bowl year. After competing against the Parcells/Belichick Jets, Kraft (and many Patriots' players and fans) became convinced that Belichick was the key man to Parcells' success.

Parcells may have stayed HC of the Jets for another year if doing so wouldn't have cost him losing Belichick to the Patriots.

Instead of doing what was right by Belichick, Parcells acted only in his own self-interest. He didn't want Belichick to go to Kraft and the Patriots. By resigning he essentially "Forced" the Jets job on Belichick. Belichick was pissed b/c he felt he deserved the opportunity to make his own decision. He knew that this might be his last opportunity to land a head coaching job and he wanted to make sure he took the job that gave him the best chance to succeed in.

The Jets situation was filled with question marks. Who was going to be the owner? What kind of owner would he be? What would Parcells involvement be? Would Belichick be allowed final say on anything?

New York would have been a no-win situation for Belichick. Every success he experienced there would have been attributed to Parcells, due to the relationship that existed between Parcells and the media in New York. The only thing that would ever be credited to Belichick is if the team failed.

Kraft, meanwhile, was someone Belichick felt would be a good fit for him. The two of them bonded back in '96 and shared many of the same ideas about how an organization must be run. And then, of course, there is the fact that Kraft was willing to give Belichick full control and final say over everything.

Out of the two situations, it was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the New York media never let the New York fanbase know the facts of the situation. They were too busy painting Belichick as a villain. That's what you get when you allow your news sources to repeatedly use sensationalism to sell papers and built ratings.

That reinforces what I recall about the situation as well. What I don't know is whether the agreement that BB had with the Jets to take over for BP was already in place when Kraft contacted the Jets, or was rumored to be interested in BB, or if it was completed once Kraft's interest became known.

I seem to recall that it was done after Kraft's interest became known and was a preemptive strike, done solely to deter the Patriots' efforts. If so, that would be another reason for BB to resent the Jets, since they seemed to want to keep BB away from the Pats more to actually have BB as their HC.

Don't forget, BB's hiring received a lot of negative press from the Boston media because he had been such a failure in Cleveland, so he wasn't viewed as a sure thing by any means.

 

[PYPER]

What I don't know is whether the agreement that BB had with the Jets to take over for BP was already in place when Kraft contacted the Jets, or was rumored to be interested in BB, or if it was completed once Kraft's interest became known.

I seem to recall that it was done after Kraft's interest became known and was a preemptive strike, done solely to deter the Patriots' efforts.If so, that would be another reason for BB to resent the Jets, since they seemed to want to keep BB away from the Pats more to actually have BB as their HC.

You got it wrong here. The deal struck between Belichick and the Jets to become their next coach was made the year before. Hess gave Belichick $1 Million dollars to return to the Jets as Defensive Coordinator for the '99 season instead of looking for a head coaching position then. As part of that deal, it was also put in writing that Belichick would become the Jets coach if/when Parcells retired.

The thing is, that condition was only included to benefit Belichick. They put it in there as a guarantee that one day he'd become the Jets coach. It was put in as an incentive combined with the $1M to keep Belichick in NY. It was never intended to be used as a weapon against Belichick, which is what Parcells eventually did. It wasn't just Parcells though. It was the entire Jets organization that tried to "trap" him. I'm sure there were probably things said during those times that pissed Belichick off.

All I know is that everything turned out the way it was meant to be. The Patriots are winners, the Jets are losers, and all is well in the universe.


Don't forget, BB's hiring received a lot of negative press from the Boston media because he had been such a failure in Cleveland, so he wasn't viewed as a sure thing by any means.[/QUOTE]

 

[PYPER]

You got it wrong here. The deal struck between Belichick and the Jets to become their next coach was made the year before. Hess gave Belichick $1 Million dollars to return to the Jets as Defensive Coordinator for the '99 season instead of looking for a head coaching position then. As part of that deal, it was also put in writing that Belichick would become the Jets coach if/when Parcells retired.

The thing is, that condition was only included to benefit Belichick. They put it in there as a guarantee that one day he'd become the Jets coach. It was put in as an incentive combined with the $1M to keep Belichick in NY. It was never intended to be used as a weapon against Belichick, which is what Parcells eventually did. It wasn't just Parcells though. It was the entire Jets organization that tried to "trap" him. I'm sure there were probably things said during those times that pissed Belichick off.

All I know is that everything turned out the way it was meant to be. The Patriots are winners, the Jets are losers, and all is well in the universe.

 

[upstater1]

You got it wrong here. The deal struck between Belichick and the Jets to become their next coach was made the year before. Hess gave Belichick $1 Million dollars to return to the Jets as Defensive Coordinator for the '99 season instead of looking for a head coaching position then. As part of that deal, it was also put in writing that Belichick would become the Jets coach if/when Parcells retired.

The thing is, that condition was only included to benefit Belichick. They put it in there as a guarantee that one day he'd become the Jets coach. It was put in as an incentive combined with the $1M to keep Belichick in NY. It was never intended to be used as a weapon against Belichick, which is what Parcells eventually did. It wasn't just Parcells though. It was the entire Jets organization that tried to "trap" him. I'm sure there were probably things said during those times that pissed Belichick off.

All I know is that everything turned out the way it was meant to be. The Patriots are winners, the Jets are losers, and all is well in the universe.


Don't forget, BB's hiring received a lot of negative press from the Boston media because he had been such a failure in Cleveland, so he wasn't viewed as a sure thing by any means.

[/QUOTE]

This is exactly as I remember it. Belichick was offered the Oakland job. Parcells and the Jets enticed him to come back by offering him the hgher salary and a chance to be the head coach of the Jets. No one ever said he was bound to it.

You all should remember that after Kraft fired Parcells, he was seen hanging out in a car for over an hour talking to Belichick. I'm sure Kraft wanted to hire Bill then, but Bill's closeness to Parcells prevented Kraft from doing so.

 

[15-2-20-4-6]

As I recall, the rumors of Belichick being #1 on Kraft's list began a couple of weeks before the end of the 1999 season, when the Pats, after their 6-2 start, were suddenly 7-8 and everyone knew that Carroll was history. Immediately after the last game of the season, which as I recall somewhat hazily was a 1 p.m. start (and a NE victory), Kraft fired Carroll and faxed the Jets an official request for permission to offer the New England HC job to Belichick as soon as it was permissible under the no-tampering rules. As I recall, the Jets (who had made the AFCC in '98) had a 4 p.m. start -- they also were to finish 8-8 -- and Parcells was not expected to retire at that point. As long as Parcells was HC, the Jets could not stand in the way of BB bettering himself by taking the head job with another NFL team. (Kraft's fax may also have stated that Belichick would be offered the Pats' "GM/coach" position, although I don't recall that that necessarily happened.) But after the Jets' game finished, at 7 p.m., Parcells stunned the NFL at his press conference by announcing his retirement as coach, although staying on as general manager, with Belichick automatically becoming HC. Knowing his love/hate attitude about coaching, and his health history, it's possible that Parcells was just fed up or, at 58, ready to retire to the front office. But given his hatred for Kraft ("the border war"), it's also possible that Parcells had no intention of letting Kraft get his man, or allowing his assistant head coach/secondary to become New England's head coach, and divisional rival. With the three-hour time lag between the two games, it's possible that the Pats had signaled their interest in BB early enough to give Parcells the time he needed to develop this strategy -- which ended up getting the Jets a first round draft choice, and served as "payback" for the 1997 wrangle over his departure from New England to the Jets while still under contract.

 

[Bruschi 3:16]

The Jets are a joke, from the owner to the ballboys. Boston College would beat the Jets. They are probably the worst run organization in sports today.

 

[DefenseRules]

Boy those Jet fans sure spend a lot of time concerning themselves with BB.
They are Obsessed, IMO.

 

[moosekill]

That's the funniest part. The Jet's fans still haven't gotten over BB leaving. Then their front office goes out and hires Mangina, and he picks up any player that the Patriots release. It just seems to go on and on and on.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

When was the BB "embarrassing" news conference??? It seemed Parcells kind of pushed teh HC job on him..and he didn't want it at all...was that on Jan 5th??

It was embarrasing for the Jets. and I loved every second of it.

 

[Pats726]

Boy those Jet fans sure spend a lot of time concerning themselves with BB.
They are Obsessed, IMO.

Yup...and Mangini is as well...down teh drain with him..

 

[hwc]

And remember, this all took place against the history of Parcells going to the Jets earlier. When the Patriots filed tampering charges against the Jets, Parcells went thru the charade of naming Belichick head coach and saying that Parcells would only be a "consultant" to the Jets.

So, Belichick had already been used as a pawn for Parcells games just a few years earlier.