cover image Parcells: A Biography

Parcells: A Biography

Bill Gutman. Carroll & Graf Publishers, $25 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-0731-7

Don't expect any blockbuster revelations or unique insights about Bill Parcells in this biography of the famous football coach. In a straightforward fashion, sportswriter Gutman tracks Parcells's rise from a star New Jersey athlete to a head coach in the NFL, first with the New York Giants, then the New England Patriots and finally the New York Jets. Gutman also recounts Parcells's various college coaching stops before he cracked the professional coaching ranks as an assistant with the Giants in 1981. Gutman's argument that Parcells's success as a coach--he brought two different teams to the Super Bowl and a third to a championship game--was due to his highly competitive nature, his motivational ability and willingness to adjust his coaching philosophy to meet the capabilities of his players, has been made before. Also rehashed is Gutman's observation that Parcells's high school coach Mickey Corcoran was the most influential person in his life. Gutman (no relation to Jets president Steve Gutman) is a capable writer who delivers an accurate overview of the coach's life. If he does not provide much new material, he still gives fans of Parcells's teams a pleasant ride down memory lane, especially Giants fans who have been waiting to return to the Super Bowl since the 1990 departure of the Big Tuna. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)