Bill Belichick universally is known as one of the greatest football coaches in history.
But there was a time when the New England Patriots head coach was a defensive coordinator with a failed head coaching history under Bill Parcells.
Belichick was Parcells’ defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, New York Jets and Patriots, and while the two put together stout, championship-winning defenses, Parcells wasn’t particularly nice to his talented coordinator.
Their relationship began to deteriorate toward the end of their time with the Jets, and it hit a low point when Belichick called for a blitz that Parcells didn’t particularly like.
David Halberstam detailed this relationship, and interaction, in his book on Belichick, “The Education of a Coach.”
“There was one terrible moment, during a game, when Belichick called a blitz, and Parcells seemed to oppose it,” Halberstam writes. “They went ahead with it and the blitz worked — the other team had done what Belichick expected and not what Parcells had — but Parcells was furious, and over the open microphones in the middle of a game, he let go, “Yeah, you’re a genius, everyone knows it, a goddamn genius, but that’s why you failed as a head coach — that’s why you’ll never be a head coach… some genius.” It was deeply shocking to everyone who heard it; they were the cruelest words imaginable.”
Wow.
That’s a brutal takedown from Parcells.
Belichick got the last laugh, though, as he has won five Super Bowl titles since becoming head coach of the Patriots, and could possibly win a few more before he hangs up the whistle.
ESPN is releasing a documentary on the relationship between Belichick and Parcells titled “The Two Bills.”
