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More Payton, Al Johnson and hiring speculation

By David Halprin

The Dallas Morning News reports  that Bill Parcells will not allow Tony Sparano to follow Sean Payton to New Orleans.

It apparently will not include Cowboys offensive line coach/running game coordinator Tony Sparano. Two sources said coach Bill Parcells, who has the contractual authority to hire and fire assistant coaches, decided Wednesday not to let Sparano join the Saints as offensive coordinator.

Nick Eatman at dallascowboys.com runs through many of the assistant coach scenarios for Dallas now the Payton is gone. Pretty standard stuff but a good read. Then he had to throw this out there and got me all verklempt.

Other candidates might include the Jets' Mike Heimerdinger, Chiefs assistants Al Saunders and Mike Solari, or possibly even Minnesota's Steve Loney or Buffalo's Tom Clements, if they are not retained by new head coaches.

Just when I get my head wrapped around the idea that Haley, Sparano or even Chris Palmer will be taking over, somebody has to throw Al Saunders name into the mix. Then I read another article where Chris Mortenson said if Saunders doesn't get a head coaching job (see Oakland) there is no way he returns to the Chiefs.

Pick up the phone Tuna, call your good buddy Dick Vermiel, and tell him to put in the good word if Oakland doesn't hire Saunders.

Our center Al Johnson is a little nutty, but in a fun kind of way. Read this interview.

Sean Payton is his own man, not a Parcells clone. Just read his words.

"There's too many games each weekend that are won in the last two minutes, less than seven points, and I think the teams that win those games on a consistent basis are the teams that ... do all the small things well in the offseason," Payton said. "It's not OK to be offsides. It's not OK to be late."

Paging Mini-Me, report to the Super Dome please. Your team is waiting.

Former Parcells assistants with NFL head coaching jobs

  • Bill Belichick - Patriots
  • Tom Coughlin - Giants
  • Romeo Crennel - Browns
  • Eric Mangini - Jets
  • Sean Payton - Saints
And don't forget about Al Groh at Virginia and Charlie Weis at Notre Dame.

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