Sean McAdam: Before Robert Kraft gets into Canton, how about Bill Parcells in Foxboro? (2024)

EDITORS NOTE: This story is part of a series exploring Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The entire project can be found here as stories publish

He’s one of the most consequential figures for a franchise that will soon celebrate its 65th birthday. He rescued them from anonymity, immediately gave them credibility and his arrival changed the team’s course of history.

Heck, without him, it’s entirely possible that the New England Patriots might not exist today. That’s how important he was to them.

And to think that he’s been denied entrance into the Hall of Fame, purportedly because of politicking and pettiness, well, it’s a shame.

Robert Kraft?

Oh no, sorry. Wrong guy, wrong Hall.

I was actually referencing Duane Charles “Bill” Parcells, who, against all logic, is still, inexplicably, not a member of the Patriots’ Hall of Fame.

To any rational person viewing this from the outside, the notion would be unthinkable. After Bill Belichick, Parcells is the most important coach the Patriots have ever had. Others might have won more games (Raymond Berry, Chuck Fairbanks, Mike Holovak), and Parcells’ .500 coaching record (32-32) isn’t anything spectacular.

But if you lived through the Parcells Era, you know how much of an impact he had on the franchise. In the years immediately prior to his arrival, the Pats had turned into a punchline. In 1991, they won exactly one game. In the two seasons before Parcells came on the scene, the Pats won 25 percent of their games and were in the news more for sexually harassing reporters than they were for anything they accomplished on the field.

Their ownership seemed to change hands as often as some teams changed special teams players. In the span of six years, from 1988-1994, the Pats cycled through four owners - founding owner Billy Sullivan, Victor Kiam, James Orthwein and Kraft. That’s a lot of turbulence for one franchise.

In that span, the Patriots’ future in Foxboro was hardly guaranteed. Orthwein very nearly moved them to St. Louis at one point.

Meanwhile, the team stumbled through one losing season after another, playing in a substandard facility in front of family and a few friends. They were the laughing stock of the league.

Parcells changed all of that. When he was introduced in January of 1993, it’s not hyperbole to say the fate of the franchise was forever altered. Suddenly the Patriots were no longer a joke. Suddenly, the Patriots mattered.

The ticket office at Sullivan Stadium was overwhelmed. Season tickets were snapped up. After years of wandering in the football desert, the Patriots had arrived.

Parcells’ stamp was all over the team. He drafted the players, coached them up, and slowly, made them competitive. By his fourth year, they were legitimate contenders and reached the Super Bowl. But there were, shall we say, issues.

Parcells didn’t appreciate the meddling of Kraft, who had bought the team a season after Parcells arrived. Kraft overruled Parcells on some draft picks, which led, in part, to the famous line: “They want you to cook the dinner. At least they should let you shop for the groceries.”

As a Super Bowl meeting with Green Bay Packers drew near, Parcells was negotiating to become the next head coach of the New York Jets. The speculation about his future hung over the Pats the entire week and served as a distraction. Finally, the Pats were embarrassed by the Packers in a blowout loss in the Superdome, and after the game, Parcells didn’t board the team flight back to New England, instead traveling to New York, where he would soon be introduced.

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It was not, to be sure, Parcells’ finest hour, a fact he’s since acknowledged.

But many Patriots fans and Kraft aren’t ready to let it go.

Year after year, in fan balloting, Parcells has been snubbed in the vote. Had Parcells left Foxboro to go coach, say, the Minnesota Vikings, all would long ago been forgiven. But the fact that Parcells left for “New Yawwwk” apparently makes his defection unpardonable.

(This in itself is funny. Why waste any energy at all on the Jets, who have cornered the market on irrelevancy, with one title since 1960. They haven’t won in more than half a century and it would surprise few if their championship drought lasted another 50 years).

So, each year, the fans, out of spite, try to rewrite history and pretend that Parcells didn’t matter, that he didn’t rescue the team from itself, that he didn’t, in fact, save them from relocating.

At least that enmity can be understood. Fans are an emotional sort, and keeping Parcells out of the Pats Hall is their payback for his ham-handed backdoor escape.

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But what’s Kraft’s excuse?

Kraft and team spokesman Stacey James like to say that the decision is out of their hands and that the vote of the fans has to be respected. However, that’s not entirely true.

On a few occasions, Kraft has stepped into the process and thrown his considerable influence around. He ushered in Sullivan as a founder and, more recently, legendary assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia as a contributor. Both times, he was correct to act as he did.

So why can’t Kraft do the same for Parcells? Here’s where it get tricky and the logic gets twisted. According to the Patriots, Kraft can appoint owners, assistant coaches and even cheerleading directors. But he can’t do the same for a head coach. It says so, right there in the rules!

But Kraft and the Patriots make the rules in the first place. It’s their Hall of Fame and they can do as they wish. And if Kraft really wanted to do the right thing, he would amend the rules, end the nonsense and put Parcells in his rightful spot at 2 Patriots Place.

That he hasn’t is a mark against Kraft, someone who is otherwise known for his philanthropy. His magnificent track record as owner of the Patriots - six Super Bowl wins, a (mostly) privately financed stadium, countless charitable contributions - is undisputed, but his inaction on this matter is a blight on his legacy.

Is Kraft wary of angering his fan base by overruling them on Parcells? Is he afraid that giving Parcells his historical due will somehow detract from his own? All of that is unclear.

What is clear is that Parcells’ absence from the Patriots Hall of Fame s a glaring misstep. You don’t have to approve of everything Parcells did or said to recognize his overwhelming contributions.

Kraft himself is worthy candidate for Canton. He secured a permanent home for a charter AFL franchise. He’s played a central role in landing some enormous TV rights deals and was instrumental in bridging the gap between the Players Association and the owners on a labor deal in 2011. And, of course, he’s overseen the transformation of the Patriots from lovable losers to dynastic dominators.

Here’s wishing him luck later this month. And here’s hoping that, elected or not to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he rights a wrong closer to home.