It looks like we've reached a tipping point in the discussion of whether Bill Parcells will return to Dallas in 2007. After weeks of speculation where the pendulum has swung from he's coming back, to he's not coming back, and back again, most observers have reached the conclusion that Parcells will indeed return for at least one more season.
The news of his planned Senior Bowl trip, his working all week in his office while the assistants were off, and coming into work on MLK day which was a holiday at Valley Ranch all point to a man not ready leave his team just yet. There were also reports that Parcells has started contacting potential replacements for his lost staff and that he, his agent Jimmy Sexton, and owner Jerry Jones are working on some kind of renegotiated contract lead to the inevitable conclusion that the Tuna will be back in Big D for the 2007 campaign.
This morning, Mac Engel writes about the subject, even stealing my headline that "Signs point to return" of Parcells. Engel has a few nuggets in his article I hadn't read before.
Curious, but a little unbelievable. I find it hard to believe that Jerry granted permission to the Seahawks without having a conversation with Parcells first. Engel also adds this paragraph.
Huh? I don't believe for a second that Parcells has somehow been limited in his ability to have "family time" by his duties in Dallas. Does anyone foresee a circumstance where Parcells says I need to go see my family and Jerry Jones saying no way, you have to stay here and work? I don't know, that sounds really flimsy.
Engel's wife, Jen Floyd, asks a lot of questions about the Cowboys beyond Parcells returning. Unfortunately, she doesn't answer any of them and they are all questions we've asked repeatedly on this blog. She may have questions, but she doesn't have answers.
Buck Harvey over at the San Antonio Express-News wonders what would've happened last year if Parcells had retired. Would Jerry have turned to Sean Payton? Hindsight is 20/20, and Payton is the wunderkind of coaching this year, but did anyone perceive him that way last year, or did he just walk into a very good situation in New Orleans, though no one knew it at the time?