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E-GIANTS By DAVE KLEIN Yes, that's the same Little Bill who was the Giants' defensive coordinator (and before that special teams and linebackers coach) from 1979 through 1990. He was hired by Ray Perkins, when he was appointed head coach by the late George Young. He quickly became more and more crucial to the fortunes of not only Perkins, who retired abruptly (and ill-advisedly to take the job at his alma mater, Alabama, in 1982) and by the far more successful and controversial Bill Parcells, his replacement. Belichick had a defensive mind that bordered on genius. With a little honing, it did reach genius level, and Parcells would admit that the defenses which took the Giants to two Super Bowl victories and various playoff successes were primarily because of Belichick. But Tuna is not given to such bursts of honesty and candor, and yet he has never won anything significant without Belichick on his staff. And Little Bill did follow him from the Giants to the Patriots to the Jets, but when Parcells announced yet another retirement and appointed Belichick as the Jets' new head coach, he was stunned by Little Bill's refusal. The common logic is that Belichick had finally grown tired of being Little Bill, and 24 hours as the head man was about all he could make himself accept. But there is a lot more to this puzzling, introspective man. He wanted nothing more than to be the head coach of the Giants, if and when his mentor (whom he quickly out-distanced) left the scene. So in February of 1991, the Giants fresh from their (last) Super Bowl victory, he was offered the head coaching job in Cleveland, he sought counsel with Young, the general manager. He asked point-blank, which is how he does everything, if he would be in line for the head coaching job if and when Parcells left. Young told him he would not. Belichick asked why, and Young said that he didn't think he could operate efficiently under the pressures of being a head coach in the New York-New Jersey area. He likened him to an older defensive genius with whom he had worked in Baltimore and Miami, Bill Arnsparger, who you might remember became the Giants' head coach years earlier and was a perfect disaster at it. "You are a gifted, near-genius defensive coordinator," Young reportedly told Belichick, "but I don't think you can be the head coach in such a market." So Belichick took the Cleveland job, serving under the unpredictable owner, Art Modell, from 1991 through 1995. He had a 37-45 record. He antagonized local members of the media although staying friendly with those who he had befriended with the Giants. Why? "You guys know a lot more about football," he once said. "You ask better questions." The thing to know about Belichick-- or, rather, one of the thousands of things to know -- is that he will always return a telephone call. It could, however, be at 1 a.m., or whenever he is finished working for the day. That generally translates into 23 hours, then an hour for rest and recuperation, and back again. One such morning my telephone rang. It was about 2 a.m., a time when only news of disasters or births are transmitted. "Hello?" "It's Bill, Dave. What did you want?" What did I want? It took a while to sort out that it was Belichick, calling from his office in Cleveland, and then it took a long while (unsuccessfully) to remember what minor question I had wanted to ask him at 10 a.m. the previous morning. But that's how he is, driven beyond all explanation. So what is it about Belichick that stands him out from the rest of the coaches? First of all, it should be noted that he would never have had the success he has enjoyed if he stayed with the Giants and even became their head coach. Why? First of all, because he is the man in charge in New England. There is no general manager. The next closest in authority is the vice president of player personnel, Scott Pioli, and he is about as good as there is in the NFL (maybe Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore). Belichick and Pioli work together seamlessly, flawlessly. They are able to deal with the salary cap better than most teams because they don't spend wild millions on superstars. They just find guys who can play. Belichick tells Pioli what he needs in the draft and the free agent market and the search always seems to turn up the perfect collection of plug-ins. Who took a bigger chance than Belichick when he released veteran superstar quarterback Drew Bledsoe and gave the job -- lock, stock and barrel -- to Tom Brady? What a risk. What nerve. Brady, it has been pointed out (repeatedly) was a sixth round draft pick -- to which Belichick responds: "We can't be accountable for other teams' mistakes." Now people are comparing Brady to all the great ones, and if it's big games that matter more than anything else, well, then that's fair. Between them, this dynamic duo has recycled and revitalized a score of veteran players who seemed to be out of time elsewhere. Roman Phifer, Christian Fauria, Rodney Harrison, Keith Traylor, Mike Vrabel and David Patten stand as testimony to the research and (in some cases) risk-taking skills of these two. Drafting has become an art. In addition to Brady, wide receiver David Givens was a seventh round pick, wide receiver Troy Brown joined the team as a sixth rounder, defensive tackle/middle linebacker Dan Klecko was a fourth round pick and fullback Patrick Pass arrived with all the heraldry befitting a seventh round selection., "Belichick doesn't draft players," says one scout, "he drafts pieces for his jigsaw puzzle, and it would be nice to copy what he does except nobody can see the puzzle except him and Pioli." Oh, yes, Pioli. Would you believe he is the son-in-law of Parcells? Well, look, rookie guard Chris Snee has his own father-in-law burden (Tom Coughlin, of course), so it isn't totally unusual. But when Parcells got the job in Dallas, he asked Pioli to come down and join him. Pioli, to his ever-lasting credit, refused. It's nice to picture Belichick as the Giants' head coach, but it isn't reality. He would never have had the kind of free-wheeling authority he has in New England. In fact, the Giants' most recently departed defensive coordinator, John Fox, is the head coach in Carolina, and he has basically the same arrangement -- his "general manager" is a guy named Marty Hurney. They were buddies in San Diego, when both were struggling to make it in this league -- Fox as a coach, Hurney as a personnel guy. So they got together and took over control of a team and oh, by the way, didn't they get to the Super Bowl last year? Yeah, they did. Against New England. Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS
where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here. NEW - Send a request to davesklein@aol.com for a free week's worth of news!
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