PALM BEACH, Fla. - Bill Parcells and Robert Kraft hadn’t spoken in some time.
So naturally, when his cell phone rang a few days ago, and he saw the caller, Parcells antennas raised.
Kraft was calling to inform the former Patriots coach that he would be inducted into the team’s next Hall of Fame class as a contributor.
The Tuna was somewhat taken aback.
“I wasn’t shocked,” Parcells said, “but I wasn’t anticipating it, either.”
Parcells had been on the ballot, nominated by the Hall of Fame committee five times (2011, 2012, 2014, 2020 and 2023), but fans never voted him in.
So it was going to take a move by the Patriots owner, to get him in.
“He just got on the phone, told me what he was going to do. We had a very pleasant conversation. I told him I appreciated it very much,” Parcells told MassLive when reached Tuesday. “I’m humbled and very appreciative. I like New England. I had two tours of duty there. I liked being there very much. It’s a special place.”
Parcells was a linebackers coach in 1980 under Ron Erhardt. That was his first tour.
Then he took over as the head coach from 1993-1996. After inheriting a team that finished 14-50 the previous four years, Parcells brought the team back to respectability.
He made the Patriots relevant, leading the team to two playoff berths which included a Super Bowl appearance against the Green Bay Packers.
Frustrated by what he perceived as intervention from ownership and not being able to “shop for the groceries” Parcells fled New England after that Super Bowl, joining the New York Jets.
The move angered fans, especially since it appeared Parcells was conspiring with the Jets during Super Bowl week. Since that time, the relationship with Kraft was strained, at best.
Parcells, however, admitted in recent years that he could have tackled the situation with ownership better.
“If I was a little more forceful at the time, I would have handled things differently,” Parcells said. “But I don’t want to get into any of the details.”
With both men turning 84 this year, Parcells is glad they’re finally moving on.
“That’s the first conversation we’ve had,” Parcells said of Kraft. “And I think we had it because we’re both of the age where life’s too short for that stuff.”
Parcells, who was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012, said it was “very satisfying” to get a red jacket alongside Mike Haynes, Steve Nelson, Stanley Morgan and Raymond Clayborn.
“This is the third Hall of Fame I’ve been put into, so I don’t take it for granted, I can tell you that,” he said.
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