Parcells to LIONS?!?

[flotsamnjetsam]

I think Detroit is a couple of WR's away from being a contender.

[Atog]

Lions | Parcells to Detroit appears to not be true
Wed, 4 Jan 2006 06:45:21 -0800

Tom Kowalski, of mlive.com, reports the rumor about Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells coming to Detroit to become head coach of the Detroit Lions continues to boil, but there's apparently nothing to it. Sources close to the situation, though, have said the Lions have had no contact with Parcells or his agent.

Not that I'm about to believe the rumor, but mlive.com is about as credible as....something that's not very credible.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Kowalski is pretty credible. He has obviously made some mistakes, but on the whole he is a decent beat reporter. His take on this was that its impossible: First and last is that its illegal for the Lions to have any contact with Parcells - end of story - its nothing more than a rumor started by Parcells. He commented on that today in his chat on mlive - I think you can find the transcript there.

[Vixtor]

This rumor started a little over a month ago somewhere on the internet. How it made national news is beyond me. No chance Parcells leaves Dallas to coach Detroit. Makes no sense whatsoever.

[moochman]

The FO of the Lions lacks the unity and direction. And they are comfy that way. No way do they want to hire Tuna, who would demand total control over player procurment. I just don't see that happening.

Isnt the unity of the front office exactly what we are seeing right now? Fords, Millen, Lewand - all pretty much on the same page and unified in their decision to fire Mooch and bring in a new HC. They all have the opinion that this team is on the right track in terms of getting good young talent to do something with, and they all believe they need a better coahing staff to bring them to the next level.

Im gonna say that unity and direction are some of the stronger characteristics of the front office. There was a disconnect between the front office and the coaching staff, but that is hopefully being resolved.

All due respect, I couldn't disagree with you more. The Lions FO has always been a mess, several factions more concerned with CYA and their own agendas then working as a unified entity. Look at the drafting of Harrington. First reports were that Millen didn't want him, he wanted Quinten Jammer. Then Lions' coach Mornhenweg didn't want Bloey as he didn't see him fitting the WCO as well as McMahon did. It was Bill Ford Jr. who put pressure on to take him, thinking it would be a big name QB to lead the team into it's brave new world.

The next year they took Charles Rogers becuase he was a local kid that had shown great potential. He also had a history of a positive drug test and a cloudy history at MSU. I doubt that Millen wanted him, given his reluctance to take any players with the clouds of drug rumors surrounding them. See Onterio Smith. So again someone else made the call. It all points out to one thing, the Lions' FO aren't working together. Instead they are at the mercy of the whims of whichever upper crust decision makers.

Parcels would demand total control and the Lions' FO meddlers would never stand for that.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

Thats fair enough - I can see 3-4 years ago that they werent on the same page. I do think they are pretty unified now though.

I can see how WCF is meddling in Millens job, but what I have read recently is that Millen was meddling with the HC's decision making this past yr and in the past. I guess I saw it as just the opposite - Mooch got the QB he wanted - not the one that Millen wanted (and subsequently led a division rival to a winning record) - and Mooch was allowed to play who he wanted (just as he should have been). What do you think - was Millen meddling with the HC's decisions this yr and/or in the past?

[moochman]

What do you think - was Millen meddling with the HC's decisions this yr and/or in the past?

No like you I think the opposite was the case. We all know that Millen didn't want Garthia, that was a power play by Mariucci. But the point is that the FO didn't back the President and GM Mr Millen. They let Mariucci have his way. I think it was the same with the draft. I don't think that Millen wanted Williams as much as he felt pressured to provide tools for the QB he never wanted. Especially in light of how Smoking Charles Rogers was flamming out. Again a player I don't believe that Millen was pressured to draft.

So that leaves me feeling the FO is meddling in Millen's job and he isn't strong enough to tell them to but out. Weak leadership leads to weak performance, ala 21-59.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

I dont know about Millen not wanting BMW - I seem to remember he was pretty eccstatic about the pick at the time - not like his reaction to Joey or Crog. Remember - he jumped at the opportunity to take BMW - I believe it was the fastest pick in the 1st rd. I mean, you could be right, but it seemed as though Millen had won the lottery this past yr in his post draft presser - he seemed completely genuine about it whereas in years past you could tell he was somewhat reserved. Again - this is just my take on it from what I saw - you could be right and he could have been faking it, but I have to believe Millen loved the BMW pick.

[moochman]

You're right, Millen did seem happy to get BMW. The optimistic part of me, and yes there is an optimistic side, hopes that Millen was shrewd enough to be happy about it because he knew BMW would need more time than Mariucci would have. Possibly he just thinking that CRog cracking a collarbone or passing a drug test wouldn't cripple the passing game. Too bad he couldn't have known how well BMW would take to Mariucci's country club style practices.