Audible Is Called by Belichick After One Day as Coach

Instead of following Bill Parcells as head coach of the New York Jets, Bill Belichick chose to follow Parcells’ lead. He resigned.

One day after Parcells said he was through coaching, his hand-chosen successor, defensive coordinator Belichick, dropped his own bombshell: He didn’t want the job either.

“The uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the team, and a number of other things, had an effect on my decision,” said Belichick, whose Jets contract stipulates he would become head coach when Parcells stepped down. “I know the commitment that needs to be made, and I don’t feel in the current situation I can lead the Jets with 100% conviction. The situation is one of great uncertainty, and I just don’t feel I can go forward.”

Belichick is concerned about the team’s pending sale--the estate of Leon Hess, who died in May, is in the final stages of that sale--and how much security he might have with the new owners.

“I have to make a decision that I understand what’s at stake and I just don’t feel that I can lead the Jets in the year 2000,” he said. “I’ve been in a situation and, more importantly, my family has been in a situation where I was the head coach of a team in transition, of a team that went through a lot of changes, and frankly it wasn’t a real good experience for me or them.”

Belichick was referring to his five-year stint as head coach in Cleveland, when the Browns went 37-45 and he was fired.

“I’ve been concerned about the situation here since Leon Hess died,” Belichick said. “We talked about all the stipulations. By Dec. 15, there was going to be an owner. It’s Jan. 4. We’ve run through scenarios and it seems like every time we talk, a new scenario takes place. There hasn’t been a consistent pattern.”

He also said he was unsure exactly what Parcells’ input would be as chief of football operations. Parcells was unavailable for comment, although he said Monday that Belichick would run the entire football side of the franchise.

Belichick, however, told team executive Steve Gutman he didn’t want to be Jet coach only moments before the news conference that was to be his first as Jet head coach.

Then, in a rambling news conference before a stunned audience, Belichick also made clear his concerns about his contract. He was making $750,000 a year on a deal that has another three years left, and was paid a $1-million bonus last January.

The New England Patriots, the team he left in 1997 to follow Parcells to New York, faxed the Jets on Monday, seeking permission to talk to Belichick about their coaching position. The Patriots fired Pete Carroll on Monday.

But Belichick already was coach of the Jets, at least contractually, and could not negotiate with New England.

The NFL on Tuesday barred any other team from contacting Belichick while it looks into his contract, which the Jets said they still consider binding. They would be owed compensation if Belichick went elsewhere, which he could do only with their permission.

This the latest in a series of bizarre coaching episodes for the Jets in which the franchise:

* Had its first owner, Harry Wismer, lead the team, then known as the Titans, into bankruptcy but not before trying to embarrass his most celebrated employee--Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh--into walking out on his coaching contract without pay;

* Had a coach, Weeb Ewbank, attempt to pass off his son-in-law, Charley Winner, as his successor;

* Had Lou Holtz, with a five-year contract, quit with a game remaining in his first season;

* Had a coach, Walt Michaels, so embarrass Hess with his behavior that he was pushed out after a season in which the Jets reached the AFC championship game;

* Had Hess cut short a vacation to personally sign Rich Kotite--a “dese and dose guy” according to the owner--as coach. Kotite won four games in two seasons.

*

Newsday contributed to this story.