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If Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga decides to make significant changes this offseason, don't be surprised if Bill Parcells surfaces as a top candidate to help in a resurrection of the 0-7 team.

While such change is purely speculative and premature at this time, a source close to Parcells said it's completely logical.

"It makes a lot of sense that the Dolphins would be a job he'd be very interested in if it came open," a source close to Parcells said Friday. "But only as the GM. I don't think he'll ever coach again."

Huizenga told The Miami Herald last week he is not only unhappy with the state of the team this season, but that he would have the team conduct "internal self-studies" before he made decisions on the future of both general manager Randy Mueller and first-year coach Cam Cameron.

Huizenga expressed his unhappiness again earlier this week at the NFL fall meetings in Philadelphia. However, Huizenga said he hadn't spoken with Parcells since playing golf with the former coach in the spring at Huizenga's private course, The Floridian, in Stuart, Fla.

"That idea (of hiring Parcells) is a shock to me," Huizenga said.

If the internal evaluations lead to massive change by Huizenga, Parcells, who is currently an analyst for ESPN, would be a logical candidate on a number of fronts. Parcells has great respect for Huizenga and the owner's style of not interfering with the football operations. While that doesn't make Parcells unique in the football world, he also has developed a social relationship with Huizenga.

In addition, Parcells spends a lot of time in South Florida, particularly in the offseason because of his love of horse racing and baseball.

For Huizenga, the move would be logical because he has always preferred a "star" system for running the Dolphins, putting one person in charge of the entire football operations. Since 1993, when Huizenga bought the team, that person has normally been the coach, as Huizenga had with Shula, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt and Nick Saban.

This is only the second year in which Huizenga has had a GM/coach set-up. The other time he did that was in 2004 with Wannstedt and Rick Spielman. That season was a disaster, starting 1-8 before the firing of Wannstedt and ultimately finishing 4-12.

The catch is that Parcells likely doesn't want to coach again and would probably only want to be in an executive role.

Parcells, 65, was general manager of the New York Jets in 2000 after retiring as coach. Also, according to a book published this fall, he held a private meeting with Giants executives late last season while coaching the Dallas Cowboys. Parcells expressed interest in succeeding Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, who retired after last season.

Parcells, who won two Super Bowls as coach of the New York Giants in the 1990s, has been adamant about running the football operations since becoming the Patriots head coach in 1993. Parcells has coached the Jets and Cowboys since then, retiring from Dallas after last season.

All of that said, Parcells has been wildly unpredictable throughout his career, ranging from changing his mind at the last minute in 1992 about coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to leaving the Patriots after leading them to the Super Bowl in the 1996 season. While with the Patriots at the Super Bowl in New Orleans that year, Parcells was calling the Jets to work out a contract.

Prior to the information becoming public, we had reached an agreement in principle with Parcells, and we met with him this morning to complete the contract. At that time, we were made aware by Parcells that he was considering a revised offer from the Miami Dolphins. He later informed us that he would not be signing a contract with us.

Brilliantly played by Bill Parcells and his agent.

They let it be known that they were negotiating with the Falcons.

The Dolphins jumped in, with a stronger offer.

Everything I'm hearing, at 4:50 p.m., is that the sides are close.

And, as their statement says, the Falcons are definitely out.

Parcells has pulled out of deals before -- just ask Tampa Bay -- but let's look at what it means if he comes. Some of this has appeared on recent blogs.

-- Parcells' interest is the best indicator yet that H. Wayne Huizenga isn't leaving anytime soon. Maybe he'll sell a partial share. But Parcells would not be considering this franchise if he was unsure of ownership. He dealt with ownership changes twice before: with the Jets and with the Patriots. Again, Huizenga has a better reputation around the league than with fans.

-- It does not mean that Cam Cameron and Randy Mueller are necessarily gone. Parcells has a positive opinion of Cameron, and they have a mutual friend in Bobby Knight. Forget what you may have heard: in reality, Parcells is more calculating than impulsive. My guess is that he would leave Cameron in place for at least the start of next season. As for Mueller, he would lose some of his personnel control with Parcells' arrival. I don't know much about their relationship, but Parcells might want to keep Mueller and most of his scouts in place, at least for now. Mueller signed a contract extension before this season, but that shouldn't affect much.

-- Parcells will not coach. Under any circumstances. Unless he changes his mind.

-- Parcells had a hand in drafting 14 of the Cowboys' current 22 starters. While he didn't have a final say in every move, he had more say than anyone in Dallas since Jimmy Johnson.

-- If you're looking for potential additions to the organization, look at Parcells' tree. Most of his pupils on the coaching and personnel sides (Bill Belichick, Al Groh, Mike Tannenbaum, Sean Payton, Tom Coughlin) are employed elsewhere. And yes, the Patriots' Scott Pioli is in the family, but it is still difficult to envision him leaving New England for anything else than the top spot, especially after he turned down the Giants last offseason.

its game time wrote:This is a great move if we can get him.We need to bring back some "ora" to the dolphins. Also this move may help us to get some bigger free angents because tuna comes to ur room is alot differnt then randy mueller.

Lane1974 wrote:says the guy with no capital letters, who are you, ee cummings?