Parcells

by Bill Parcells

  For a meeting place, Mandart suggested the dining room, which contained a cherrywood table, Oriental rug, and chandelier. As the men left the kitchen, Jimmy Sexton stayed behind momentarily. After taking a deep breath, he told Mandart, “I can’t believe Huizenga didn’t call. I can’t believe Blank is here.” Sexton laughed nervously while shaking his head, then headed off to the dining room.

  Every few minutes Parcells’s cell phone or the home line rang, interrupting Mandart’s attempt to make everybody lunch. In a Seinfeldesque scene, Mandart hustled to check the ID for each call. Not seeing the pertinent area code, she went back to tossing salad, chopping vegetables, and grilling chicken. Occasionally both phones rang at the same time, as reporters on friendly terms with Parcells tried to get the scoop. Mandart had lowered the ring volumes, so Blank and his attorney were oblivious to the calling frenzy.

  Exploiting one moment of phone silence while taking the risk of missing a call, Mandart hustled into the dining room with a platter of chicken Caesar salad, sliced peppers and cucumbers, and dill dip. Parcells was at the head of the table; Sexton and his lawyer sat to Parcells’s right, Blank and his attorney to Parcells’s left. Just five minutes into negotiations, Sexton expressed qualms about language in the contract involving game tickets and access to a company car.

  Around the same time, Wayne Huizenga telephoned Joe O’Donnell.

  “Well, great try, old friend. I appreciate your effort, but I’ve lost Parcells.”

  O’Donnell was surprised. “How’s that? He wants to go to Miami. He likes you.”

  “We couldn’t get in touch with each other. And he’s signing with Arthur Blank.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Blank is meeting with him today to sign a contract.”

  “Why don’t you just call Bill and talk to him?”

  “I tried. I can’t get through. And he hasn’t called me back.”

  “I’ve got his girlfriend’s number. Let me call.”

  Mandart answered her cell phone.

  “Kelly, where’s Bill?”

  She whispered, “He’s in the dining room with Mr. Blank.”

  In an urgent tone, O’Donnell asked, “Jesus, what’s he doing?”

  “I think they’re about to sign a contract.”

  O’Donnell implored, “Kelly, get Bill out of there!”

  She put the concessionaire on hold, entered the dining room, and told Sexton that she had an important call for him. Reading the situation, Parcells’s agent excused himself, took the phone, and stepped out onto the back porch, ignoring the chilly weather to avoid being overheard. With Sexton out of the room, Blank asked Parcells for permission to use his home office to discuss the initial contractual issue with the team attorney. Parcells walked the pair to the room, and shut the door to give the Atlanta duo privacy.

  Meanwhile, O’Donnell spoke on the phone with Sexton. “Look, Wayne is waiting with a pen in his hand. Miami’s where Bill wants to go. So get him out of that damn meeting.”

  Sexton replied, “Shit, I’ll see what I can do.” After hanging up, he stepped back in the house and said to Mandart, who was standing at the entrance of the back porch, “This is something. Huizenga’s not selling the team. And he wants Bill.”

  Mandart replied, “Oh, thank God.” But quickly realizing the dilemma, she added, “Oh, no. What are we going to do?”

  Sexton, smiling tensely, said, “I don’t know. It’s going to get interesting. I have the prize bull at the county fair, and two billionaires are fighting over him.”

  Blank’s closed-door conference gave Sexton the opportunity to brief Parcells, and to allow the prize bull to walk up to his master bedroom and call Huizenga. “Look, Wayne, this guy’s here right now. He’s getting ready to close the deal.”

  Huizenga responded, “Send him home! I’m not selling the team. Send him home! I’m keeping the team. You’ve got my word.” The owner added that he might still sell part of the club, but no more than 49 percent. Even in that scenario, Huizenga stressed that he would remain general managing partner with ultimate authority.

  Parcells replied, “If you’re not the owner, I’m not sure how this is going to go, based on past experience.”

  Huizenga countered, “We’ll just add a clause giving you a thirty-day window to leave with full pay if I sell. If you don’t want to stay, you won’t have to.” Huizenga’s lack of hesitation and the golden parachute were convincing.

  Parcells told Huizenga, “I have to call you back, Wayne. Give me until three o’clock.” After hanging up, Parcells took a deep breath.

  Kelly told him, “We need to get Blank out of the house. This is too much.”

  Sexton advised candor, so Parcells walked to his home office and asked to speak with Blank privately. As the Falcons attorney returned to the dining room, Parcells said to the team owner, “Something’s happened here. The Dolphins aren’t going to sell. I just need a little time to think about things. So please just take a little ride or go to lunch. I need an hour and a half to myself. When you come back, we’ll get this all straightened out one way or another.”

  Blank replied, “Good. I’m going to go and have lunch.” The assertion contradicted his worried look. After getting a restaurant recommendation from Mandart, Blank left the house around 12:30 p.m.

  Weighing his decision with Sexton and Mandart, Parcells said he felt the contractual issue at the start of negotiations with Blank was ominous. He also disagreed with the owner’s philosophy of making Atlanta’s black fan base a factor in football decisions. African-Americans constituted more than half the metropolitan area’s population of five million, leading to the NFL’s largest such base. However, the main reason for Parcells’s inclination to join Miami was his relationship with Huizenga.

  Sexton asked Parcells, “What do you want to do?”

  Parcells replied firmly, “I want to go to Miami.”

  With the decision made, Parcells and company finally got a chance to have lunch at roughly 12:45 p.m. After a few minutes, Parcells left the group to phone Huizenga and confirm things. The Dolphins owner promised to sweeten his proposal by matching Atlanta’s four-year contract. “Here’s the deal if you want it. We’ll work everything else out.”

  Parcells said, “Wayne, I’m going to put my faith in you that we’ve got a deal.”

  “Yep, we do. You got any other important questions? Let’s answer ’em right now.”

  Parcells inquired about a company car, an early sticking point with Blank.

  Huizenga replied, “You know, we’re not in the car business, but we’ll work that out.”

  Parcells said, “Okay, we’ve got a deal. Don’t announce it. I’ve got to tell this guy that I’m going to go to Miami.”

  By 2:10 p.m., Blank and his lawyer still hadn’t returned, increasing the tension in the house. Mandart wondered aloud whether the Falcons owner had decided to get on his plane. “Oh God, I can’t take any more tension.” As if on cue, Blank rang the doorbell. Parcells answered it, then led Arthur Blank to his home office for a private talk. Without delay, Parcells revealed that he had decided to join the Dolphins.

  Blank responded, “I’m disappointed. I thought we had a deal.”

  Parcells countered, “You know that we really didn’t have a deal. I just think it’s probably better if I go to Miami. I told you maybe you shouldn’t come up today, but you insisted, and I didn’t want to stop you. I really had a genuine interest in your team. I wish you luck, and I hope it goes well for you.”

  Blank’s face twisted in anger as he turned around to leave the room. Bumping into his attorney in the hallway, Blank snapped, “Let’s go.” Surprised, the lawyer responded, “Oh, okay.”

  Blank headed to the closet to get his jacket, trailed by his attorney. Opening the front door for them, Mandart said, “It was nice meeting you. Sorry things didn’t work out.”

  Blank replied, “Yeah.”

  Holding the paper bag containing Blank’s gift, Mandart a
sked, “Would you like your books back?”

  In a polite tone, Blank responded, “No, you just keep them.”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  As Blank entered his SUV, a sense of relief spread throughout the house. Sexton exhaled, saying to Parcells and company, “That’s it. I’m done with this kind of stuff.” A few hours later, Arthur Blank issued a public statement declaring that Parcells had broken an agreement in principle and instead signed a revised contract with the Dolphins. Blank’s stance angered Parcells, and made him feel that he’d made the right decision.

  33

  Stephen Ross and Joe O’Donnell first met in 2002 at a Massachusetts gubernatorial fund-raiser for the foodie’s pal Mitt Romney. Stephen’s uncle, Max Fisher, an oil magnate and philanthropist known as “the dean of Jewish Republicans,” had heavily supported the political career of George Romney, Mitt’s father. And Mitt briefly dated Fisher’s daughter Mary when they attended a top boarding school in the Detroit area, Cranbrook, which also served as the Lions’ training camp site until 1963. Mitt was named after his cousin Milt, who had played quarterback for George Halas’s Bears during the 1920s.

  After an introduction through Mitt Romney, Stephen Ross and Joe O’Donnell stayed in touch and developed a friendship. O’Donnell’s business partner, mall developer Steve Karp, entered several real-estate deals with Ross. Karp and O’Donnell were perennially on Boston Magazine’s annual list of the city’s fifty wealthiest and most powerful residents. More than once the publication named O’Donnell the city’s most powerful person, with friends like President George W. Bush, whom he occasionally visited at the White House. Through business deals, fund-raisers, and social events, O’Donnell got to know Ross almost as well as the food mogul knew Wayne Huizenga.

  On January 3, 2008, Bill Parcells named Jeff Ireland the Miami Dolphins’ new GM, replacing Randy Mueller. Within two weeks, as expected, the pair announced that Tony Sparano, forty-six, would be the team’s new head coach, choosing him over a handful of candidates to replace Cam Cameron. Chiefs offensive coordinator Todd Haley and running-backs coach Maurice Carthon were angry at their mentor, deeming the interview process a sham. Despite the bruised feelings, Parcells, with Ireland’s official blessings as GM, saw Sparano as the best fit. Interviewees like Baltimore’s defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and Minnesota’s defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier had also impressed Parcells, but Sparano was a known quantity, having coached four seasons under Parcells. He was also being considered for head-coaching openings in Atlanta and Baltimore.

  Parcells’s NFL tentacles sometimes caused him to face complicated or contradictory feelings. The 2008 Super Bowl pitted Bill Belichick’s undefeated Patriots versus Tom Coughlin’s Cinderella-like Giants, and before the February 3 showdown, Parcells was asked which team he favored. The new Dolphins chief was vague, alluding to his daughter Dallas and son-in-law Scott Pioli. “Would you root against your own family?” But by the opening kickoff, Parcells expressed neutrality to his girlfriend because of his deep connections to the Giants. Parcells enjoyed seeing Tom Coughlin reach the big game after he’d withstood heavy criticism and demands for his ouster. Parcells said before the Super Bowl, “That bandwagon has got to get some more tires on it. It’s collapsing.”

  Parcells and Mandart watched the showdown at the Jupiter condominium. When New England pulled ahead, 14–10, in the back-and-forth contest, Parcells’s demeanor remained even. He grew excited when the heavy-underdog Giants charged back, and smiled at Eli Manning’s late touchdown in the 17–14 thriller. It marked Big Blue’s first Super Bowl triumph by a head coach not named Bill Parcells.

  Starting in February, Wayne Huizenga visited Parcells at Dolphins headquarters at least once per week, arriving around 3 p.m. The main topics of discussion involved players the club intended to release, free-agent possibilities, and the upcoming draft. Huizenga showed more inquisitiveness about football specifics than Leon Hess had done with the Jets, but he lacked Jerry Jones’s proactivity. The happy medium pleased Parcells, confirming his decision to join Miami. Because of the executive vice president’s curiosity about the Dolphins owner, their conversations sometimes extended into Huizenga’s other business endeavors. Parcells enjoyed getting financial pointers from his boss, and looked forward to a long, fruitful relationship.

  While Sparano started assembling a Cowboys-heavy staff, Stephen Ross reignited talks with the Dolphins, conveying his desire to buy a significant stake, if not the entire franchise. Forbes’s list of richest Americans ranked Ross at 68th with $4.5 billion, and Huizenga at 165th with $2.5 billion. Again Huizenga expressed willingness to sell no more than 49 percent of his franchise, but the real-estate mogul insisted on buying half immediately and getting an option to purchase up to 95 percent within several years. Huizenga warmed to the idea, as long as he retained ultimate control. Ahead of an agreement in principle, Huizenga and Ross discussed Parcells’s new role at length.

  Joe O’Donnell had been friends with Huizenga for more than two decades. And on the issue of selling half the team, the Dolphins owner valued his opinion, especially given his closeness to Parcells. After having been the matchmaker for Parcells and Miami, O’Donnell quietly switched gears to acting as a facilitator between Huizenga and Ross, who also leaned on the concessionaire’s insight. O’Donnell recalls, “Huizenga called me and said: ‘What do you think about Ross?’ I said, ‘I like Ross.’ Then Ross called me. He said, ‘What do you think about Huizenga?’ I said, ‘I like Huizenga.’ And in the middle of it all is the Tuna.”

  Huizenga agreed to sell Ross virtually 50 percent of the team plus its stadium for $550 million. The deal projected the value of the Dolphins at $1.1 billion, the highest amount ever paid for an NFL franchise; the previous year Forbes had deemed the team worth $942 million. Just as important, Huizenga gave Ross no less than four years to increase his stake to 95 percent and become managing general partner—and Parcells’s boss.

  On Friday morning, February 22, 2008, a few hours before a press conference to announce the deal, Huizenga walked into Parcells’s office at Dolphins headquarters in Davie, Florida. “I just sold half the team. I sold it to that guy, Stephen Ross, from New York. I may sell him some more at some point. I just had to do this.” Due to contingencies in the deal, Huizenga couldn’t provide a precise timetable on relinquishing control to Ross. Early 2010 was the soonest Huizenga envisioned Ross increasing his stake. Huizenga seemed reluctant to cede control, and Parcells was pleased to hear the seventy-year-old convey his intention to own part of the team until his death.

  At the press conference, Huizenga said, “My heart does not want me to do this, but my head tells me it’s the right thing to do.” Despite the uncertain situation, Parcells assumed that it would be a few years before Ross took over as managing general partner. In the worst-case scenario of an incompatible new owner, Parcells intended to exercise his contractual right to leave with full pay. Ross, who had attended Dolphins games while a student at Miami Beach High, told reporters, “You can’t help but respect the track record of Bill Parcells.” Minutes later he cracked, “Other than playing quarterback, I don’t see myself as a hands-on owner.”

  Within the next few days Parcells made several phone calls to gather intelligence on Wayne Huizenga’s heir apparent. He heard generally good things from contacts in Florida and New York, who described the real-estate billionaire as being a good person who excelled in his sphere. Parcells especially valued O’Donnell’s take. The concessionaire told Parcells, “He’s a tremendous guy; he’s generous. He’s like Wayne in that he’s kept all his old friends, but he’s more of an extrovert. He loves life. He’s sixty-seven, a little younger than Wayne, and he lives with gusto.”

  Two weeks after the press conference, Huizenga brought Ross to Parcells’s office for an introduction. The executive vice president used his break-the-ice line to new owners: “Football isn’t for well-adjusted people.” To which Ross responded, “I’ll fit in great, then.” The cordial t
en-minute conversation ended with Parcells saying, “Hey, I like what I’m doing. I’m comfortable here. Don’t worry about me leaving.”

  Parcells considered his role in Miami to be similar to the one he had held with the Jets in 2000 after quitting as their head coach. The main difference was the need to start over in several areas while revamping the football department to his specifications. “We had a new owner with the Jets,” Parcells says, referring to Woody Johnson, “but I was familiar with all the people in the organization. A lot of things were in place.”

  One of the key scouts for the Dolphins, Chris Grier, had been a Patriots intern in 1994, when Parcells was head coach. Chris’s father, Bobby Grier, had recommended drafting Terry Glenn in the 1996 draft, exacerbating Parcells’s differences with Robert Kraft. But Parcells considered the matter old news, and kept Chris in the new regime. The Dolphins also hired Brian Gaine, who’d scouted for Ireland and Parcells in Dallas and for two seasons with Parcells’s Jets.

  As the new Dolphins GM, Jeff Ireland officially controlled personnel decisions, and Parcells underscored the authority of the ex–Cowboys scout. However, Parcells’s unique position gave him ultimate power because he controlled the purse strings. All expenditures required approval by the executive vice president of football operations, so Parcells could block any ostensibly bad ideas by his GM or head coach, and, of course, terminate their employment. Weeks after joining the Dolphins, Parcells said, “If they fail, then I get rid of their asses, and we get somebody else, just like they’d get rid of me when I was doing it.” Nevertheless, Parcells saw the triumvirate as being on the same wavelength.

  By mid-January, Ireland and Parcells started watching film together of impending free agents. During one session on a Bills defensive player, Parcells asked Ireland, “What am I thinking about doing with this guy?”