Mike Celizic

The news of Bill Parcells’ retirement came as a surprise, but hardly a shock; three previous retirements had pretty much extinguished the shock value of his leaving another job. But I had thought that he wouldn’t leave the Cowboys when he thought there was a chance that they could return to the top of the NFL’s pecking order next year.

I was wrong, which isn’t a big deal; no one, after all, has ever gotten rich making book on the mind of the Tuna. His departure from Dallas is in keeping with his departures from the Giants, Patriots and Jets. It is somewhat sudden and entirely based on how he feels about continuing at a job that is as all-consuming as any on the planet.

On the surface, the reasons have been different. With the Giants, it was a heart problem. In New England, it was a difference of opinion with the owner. With the Jets, it was simply that he’d had enough of life on the sidelines — for the moment. But the underlying reason is the same: Parcells will not coach if he doesn’t feel he can give the job the effort it requires. In the past, that has meant taking time off to recharge his batteries. Now, at the age of 65, there’s the sense that the retirement will finally stick.

Let’s hope it does. He should stay retired. He’s had a brilliant career and is the only coach to take four separate franchises to the post-season. But his results in Dallas have been mixed. He did return to the team to the playoffs in his first season, and he returned there this year. But he did not win a playoff game, something the Cowboys haven’t done since 1996. And each of his four Cowboy teams finished their seasons with 2-3 record in their final five games, a performance totally at odds with his other teams’ history of playing better in December than they did in September.

Parcells didn’t tarnish his reputation in Dallas, but he didn’t burnish it, either.

Parcells retires      Parcells says he's retiring from coaching Owens says retirement ‘was needed’ Ventre: T.O. drove Tuna out of the game Celizic: Parcells should stay retired Opinion: Parcells really riding off into sunset?   DISCUSS: Is Tuna done for good?

He left the Cowboys better than he found them, even if the timing of his decision leaves the team in a bit of a hole. By delaying his announcement until now, the Cowboys have already missed some of the prime coaching picks, including Mike Tomlin, hired Monday by the Steelers to replace Bill Cowher.

The list of coaching candidates being tossed out includes college coaches and such recently retired NFL head coaches as Bill Cowher. Most of the names are risky and potential mistakes.

The days of hiring college coaches — Barry Switzer — or older coaches looking for one more chance to grab at the brass ring should be over for the Cowboys. Dallas doesn’t need to hire someone else’s “name” coach. It needs more than anything a young, ambitious coach with boundless energy, a coach who is willing to deal with a meddling owner and his prize head-case wide receiver, a coach who can be given the time to develop the team’s considerable young talent, a coach who, if all works out, can still be walking the sidelines ten or 15 years hence, a coach like Tom Landry was when he became the team’s original head coach.