Patriots Have Parcells in a Holding Pattern

New England Coach Bill Parcells learned Wednesday that it won’t be as easy as he had hoped to wriggle free of his obligations to the Patriots. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ruled that Parcells can’t coach anywhere else in the NFL in 1997 without the team’s permission.

That permission is expected to carry a high price tag.

Parcells, disenchanted with Patriot owner Bob Kraft and angered over the stripping of his power to make personnel decisions, would like to join the New York Jets, where the positions of coach and general manager are open. According to a report in a New York paper, a three-year, $10-million deal awaits Parcells.

That’s expensive enough for the Jets. But now, the team also will have to compensate the Patriots if it wants Parcells. And that might prove to be too steep a price if Kraft asks for the Jets’ top pick in the 1997 draft, since it is also the top pick overall. New England drafts 29th in the first round.

The Jets are expected to make an offer to Kraft soon, but don’t expect it to include their top pick. Kraft, of course, might settle for less than the No. 1 selection in the draft if it appears the Jets won’t budge. Otherwise, he’ll get nothing and Parcells will be gone in a year anyway.

The first indication that Parcells was unhappy came after last season, when he asked to renegotiate his contract to remove a clause that would have required him to pay the Patriots $1.4 million if he failed for any reason to coach the team in 1997, the fifth and final year of a deal Parcells had signed with previous owner James Busch Orthwein. Kraft agreed to Parcells’ request.

But matters got ugly between the two on draft day last spring when Parcells wanted to select a defensive player with New England’s first selection and Bobby Grier, the team’s director of player personnel, wanted Ohio State receiver Terry Glenn.

The Patriots got Glenn, but, in effect, lost Parcells. Despite Glenn’s spectacular season, relations between Kraft and Parcells continued on a downward path.

Even though the Patriots won the AFC championship to make it to Super Bowl XXXI, Parcells continued to stonewall all questions about his future.

Kraft didn’t exactly sit on his hands. Sources close to the team say San Francisco 49er defensive coordinator Pete Carroll is already in line to replace Parcells.

If Parcells goes.

In a similar situation in 1970, the Miami Dolphins gave their top draft pick to the then-Baltimore Colts to enable Don Shula to switch to the Dolphins.

Pro Football Notes

The Internal Revenue Service claims Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones and his wife, Gene, owe $8.3 million in back taxes and penalties from 1992. The couple is contesting the matter in U.S. Tax Court, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Wednesday. . . . With the city of San Diego in danger of losing the Chargers and the 1998 Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will stop on his way home from the Pro Bowl in Hawaii to meet Monday with team and public officials. Cities are already lining up to play host to Charger home games next season in case a controversial expansion of Jack Murphy Stadium is halted by a referendum.

Rich Brooks, fired as coach of the St. Louis Rams after two losing seasons, was named defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons. . . . Jim Hanifan, the former coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, is coming back to town as offensive line coach under Ram Coach Dick Vermeil. . . . Quarterback Jim Kelly is expected to announce his retirement Friday at a news conference called by the Buffalo Bills.