Bill Parcells and Saints: Why Hall of Fame Will Force Him to Turn Down Offer

The NFL has been abuzz this week with rumors that legendary head coach Bill Parcells might act as the interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints during the season-long suspension handed down to Sean Payton as a result of the player bounty scandal.

But the potential postponement that a return to coaching could have on an appointment Parcells has in Canton, Ohio, may have derailed the Big Tuna to the Big Easy train before it ever left the station.

As the Washington Post reported Tuesday, Payton spoke to reporters at the NFL's owners meetings in Florida, and the embattled coach kept open the possibility of speaking to his mentor about taking the reins in New Orleans during Payton's absence.

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Speaking Tuesday morning at the NFL meetings, Payton said he talks regularly with Parcells, and has sought his counsel often throughout this process. He added that he, general manager Mickey Loomis — who is facing an eight-game suspension — and team owner Tom Benson are weighing a number of scenarios, and Payton said a decision whether he will appeal the suspension is likely in the next “two to three” days.

“You’re asking me what are his great strengths?” Payton said. “And I would say to you he’s a great teacher. Certainly I’m biased, having worked with him. But he’s a Hall of Fame head coach. And I would also say there’s some things probably set up in the framework of our program that would be exactly how he would have set those things up had he been the head coach here in ‘06. So there’s some carry-over that way.”

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However, as appealing as the idea of having a future Hall of Fame coach prowling the sidelines for the Saints in 2012 may be for Payton, Loomis and the team, that very Hall of Fame may be the biggest roadblock to Parcells' arrival in New Orleans.

Coaching again, even on an interim basis, would delay Parcells' eligibility for Canton by another five years, according to a report by FOX Sports' Len Pasquarelli.

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Should longtime NFL coach Bill Parcells come out of retirement to lead the New Orleans Saints in 2012, as suggested by an ESPN report on Monday, a return to the game would delay his eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame executive director Steve Perry told The Sports Xchange on Monday that the five-year waiting period for eligibility into the Canton, Ohio, shrine would be negated by Parcells' possible return. The five-year period mandated by Hall of Fame bylaws would not begin again until Parcells retired.

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This delay in enshrinement may prove to be a deal-breaker for the 70-year-old Parcells, whom Pasquarelli states has denied speaking to Payton about the New Orleans job and who was reportedly "driven" in 2011 by the potential for enshrinement in the hall.

Moreover, Sports Illustrated's Peter King reported Monday that he spoke to Parcells regarding the situation in New Orleans. Not only could Parcells possibly be turned off by the idea of seeing his Hall of Fame waiting period reset, but there's no guarantee that Parcells even has any interest in a return to the sidelines.

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It's way premature, obviously, and the odds are against Parcells, 70, returning to coach his fifth NFL team this fall. But ESPN reported Monday that Saints coach Sean Payton, due to begin a one-year suspension connected to the league's sanctions of the franchise for a three-year bounty program next Monday, has "broached'' the idea of Parcells taking over as interim coach of the Saints for the 2012 season.

I asked Parcells if he had the bug to return to coaching.

"Do I have the bug?'' he said, then paused. "I don't think so.''

He said he has had two opportunities to return to coaching since he retired from the Cowboys after the 2006 season and said he had no desire to do so.

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King doesn't completely shut the door on Parcells coaching the Saints, calling this a "unique situation." King also doesn't believe that the delay in Hall of Fame eligibility would provide a "significant detriment to Parcells returning—if he got the itch to do so."

However, Canton's siren song is just one more uncertainty regarding the possibility of Parcells coaching the Saints in a situation that's overflowing with uncertainties. It's looking more and more likely that while the idea of Bill Parcells returning the coaching is fun to talk about, the Saints' ship will have to weather the storm of Bountygate without one big fish on board.

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