Parcells: "I have another life"

Bill Parcells explained to his current employers why they are not his former employers.

The former head coach and current ESPN analyst sat down with Mike Tirico to talk about why he pulled his name from consideration for the Saints head coaching vacancy.

“In my mind, I didn’t really feel an inclination to do that,” Parcells said of taking over as interim head coach while Sean Payton serves a year-long suspension. “My real feelings were about his welfare … I’ve been out quite a while now and I have another life and I’m pretty happy with that.”

Parcells said he spoke with Payton shortly after the NFL initially announced his punishment late last month. He did play golf in Florida with Payton during the owners meetings there last month.

“I talked to him very soon after the announcement came out,” Parcells said. “We went back and forth about a lot of subjects, and one of them was coaching, and we just kind of broached that.”

Payton’s suspension begins Monday and many signs are pointing to assistant heade coach Joe Vitt taking over the day-to-day coaching of the Saints as they head into their offseason program. Vitt will be suspended for the first six games of the regular season for his role in the bounty scandal, but he is allowed to remain active on the staff until after the preseason.

“I was certainly, like a lot of people in the NFL, saddened by the news of what precipitated some of this activity here, the bounties and those kinds of things,” Parcells said. “I do have a very high regard for the coach of the Saints, Sean Payton. I like him very much personally, we worked together for three years in Dallas, we correspond on a frequent basis. My initial thoughts were just concern about him.”