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Bill Parcells and the Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a contract that ensures the coach will be under contract for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, the Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

The Cowboys were 7-3 and first in the NFC East, then stumbled to a 2-4 finish. They were eliminated from the playoffs about an hour before their finale.

Afterward, Parcells said he needed time to decide whether to return. He’s maintained that his health is fine, other than slipping from his workout regimen during the final month of the season. The first media report that he was considering retirement linked it to the November death of his younger brother, Don, after a long bout with cancer.

“Listen, the NFL season at best is a tiring process,” Parcells said last week. “When you’ve been going every day since July 29, every single day, it’s tiring for me. I don’t know what it is for the other guys. When I see them on Sunday, they all look tired, too.”

Parcells guided the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles after the 1986 and ’90 seasons, then got the New England Patriots there in ’96 and the New York Jets to the AFC championship in ’98. He became the first coach to get four teams into the playoffs after making it with Dallas in 2003.

The future seems bright for the Cowboys.

Running back Julius Jones and tight end Jason Witten are building blocks on offense, and the defense — which Parcells switched to a 3-4 scheme last offseason — is loaded with talented young players: safety Roy Williams, cornerback Terence Newman, linebacker DeMarcus Ware and linemen Marcus Spears and Chris Canty.

Parcells also has a core of players he relies on after having coached them on previous teams: quarterback Drew Bledsoe, receivers Keyshawn Johnson and Terry Glenn, defensive lineman Jason Ferguson and cornerback Aaron Glenn.

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