COMMENTARY : Parcells Has Done the Job; Walton Hasn’t

Just for the moment, let’s go back to the future. To the days after the 1982 season, when New York’s two NFL teams found themselves in similar circumstances. Both the Giants and the Jets had accepted the resignations of their head coaches and had nominated assistants to succeed Ray Perkins and Walt Michaels.

If you had to choose then, who would you have picked as the man with the greater job security? How many would have said Bill Parcells, a largely anonymous defensive coach with minimal professional experience and a team that had finished the strike season with a disappointing 4-5 record? His counterpart on the other side of the Hudson was Joe Walton, a widely-respected offensive specialist with a New York (Giant) player pedigree who was inheriting a young club that had fallen one victory short of the Super Bowl. Be honest, now: the vote wouldn’t have been close.

Both men still are in their posts. They and their teams will occupy the east side of the field at Giants Stadium, which has been home to both the Giants and Jets since 1984, on successive days this weekend. The games will be the 111th for Parcells and Walton in regular-season play. In all probability, never again will they be so closely identified.

Win or lose on Sunday, when the Giants host the Raiders, Parcells will be coaching in the playoffs for the fourth time in seven years. He has a year remaining on his contract and can stay longer, much longer, if he so chooses. Win or lose today, when the Jets engage the Bills, Walton will be elsewhere next season. Although he has two years left on his contract, the man will be asked to vacate his office by new General Manager Dick Steinberg.

How did Parcells thrive and Walton ultimately fail? There’s no easy answer. As recently as a year ago, in fact, it wasn’t entirely clear that Walton would be the first to leave. On Dec. 18, 1988, the Jets staged a suspenseful final drive to defeat the Giants, 27-21, knocking their rivals out of playoff contention and salvaging a winning season. The coaches’ records after that game were 52-42-1 for Parcells and 49-45-1 for Walton.

It’s true Parcells did have the advantage of a Super Bowl victory following the 1986 season. In the same year, the Jets had been the sensation of the league through the first 11 weeks, winning 10 times. Five ignominious defeats followed, but still the Jets held a 20-10 lead over the Browns in Cleveland with 4:14 remaining and a berth in the AFC championship game at stake. They couldn’t hang on and eventually lost in double overtime.

Both franchises--and both coaches--suffered from the strike in 1987. The Giants and Jets each staggered to a 6-9 record, and Parcells and Walton alienated many players when the full squads returned to work. Although the Giants went 10-6 against a soft schedule in 1988, it was the perception of many (the Jets’ hierarchy included) that the Jets, at 8-7-1, were making greater strides.

Now we know better. In 1989, while Walton’s Jets were developing a seven-year itch, Parcells and his team gained stature not only in New York but also around the league. The gap between the teams and the coaches has grown into a chasm. It is Steinberg’s mission to bridge the wasteland between the 11-4 Giants and the 4-11 Jets. He will attempt it with a coach of his own choosing.

So where did it go wrong for Walton? Certainly, he had injuries. From a defense that was a dominant force, he lost the likes of Joe Klecko, Lance Mehl and Bob Crable to severe knee conditions. Marty Lyons has suffered a variety of ailments. Mark Gastineau finally flipped out.

But Parcells was not without problems. He lost three players to cancer, including Karl Nelson, whose absence caused a major revamping of the offensive line that starred in the Super Bowl. He started this season without three leaders of a proud defense--Harry Carson, George Martin and Jim Burt--and had to do without his major running threat, Joe Morris, after an injury in the final preseason game. Somehow, he managed.

After a year of offering public support and encouragement to his players, Walton grew distant again as the losses mounted in 1989. He minded his tongue but benched veterans. Among them was Ken O’Brien, the quarterback he had developed, at a time when his only alternative was a virtual novice. Nothing seemed to work. By contrast, Parcells patted a few backs and needled others, including warhorse Ottis Anderson, to unexpected performances. He motivated on a personal basis. The clubhouse was his house, too, while Walton directed through his assistants.

Perhaps the major difference in the stories of the two men, however, was in the structure of their organizations. Parcells had a strong football man above him, a general manager named George Young who knew personnel and supported his coach. He helped Parcells grow into a job that seemed too big in 1983, when the coach anointed Scott Brunner as his quarterback and the team finished 3-12-1. At the top of the Jets, there was only a vacuum, one which Walton and a few others sought to fill with erratic and, eventually, disastrous results.

The tale of two coaches ends this weekend. At least, there will be one winner.