Ross D. Franklin / Reuters file

At 66 years old and back in the NFL, Dolphins VP Bill Parcells says "the clock’s ticking for guys like me."

Parcells has this gruff reputation, something he does little to defuse. He’s supposedly this all-intense, old-school-football, no-time-for-anything-else sort of guy. And at one time, that characterization might have been accurate.

But somewhere along the way, he mellowed.

During Parcells’ training camps with Dallas, it wasn’t uncommon to find the coach in his office between practice sessions, staring at the television. Film study? Not exactly. He’d be watching races from Saratoga.

He moved into the house with the huge porch and three-car garage two years ago, and neighbors didn’t know what to expect. One night shortly after Parcells arrived, two daring couples who live on the quiet cul-de-sac went ahead with a welcome-to-the-neighborhood tradition.

In the dark, they covered Parcells’ lawn with pink flamingos.

And their hearts all skipped a beat when Parcells and girlfriend Kelly Mandart arrived home from dinner in time to see them nearby.

“We were discovered and we knew it, so we decided to walk over and fess up,” says Jim Oplinger, a ringleader of the flamingo troupe. “He was most gracious. He said it was a nice neighborhood tradition. I told him to tell me when he wanted the flamingos to disappear, but he left them up for a few days.”

The next night, Parcells attended a barbecue with his new neighbors.

“He’s a very nice man,” Oplinger says.

Oplinger is a retired engineer with an affinity for math and science. He tutors high school students because he can’t bring himself to sit around and not work. And that’s sort of the role Parcells fancies himself in with the Dolphins, a tutor to the likes of Sparano and Ireland.

“He still loves football and he believes he can build a team,” Oplinger says. “He’s doing what he loves.”

Saratoga just isn’t where Parcells lives. It’s his home. He’s already taken part in one charity golf event there this year, to raise money for children, and will be back for another event to support NFL alumni in August, during the heart of the Dolphins’ training camp schedule.

Still, Parcells’ focus is fully on the task in Miami. The 2008 season hasn’t started, yet Parcells often finds himself planning things already for 2009 and beyond, sorting things into three categories: “musts,” “needs” and “wants.”

His attitude, among both players and coaches — most players, anyway — is infectious.

“They brought coach Parcells in to win,” Dolphins quarterback John Beck says. “That’s why I play football. I play football to win so when they brought somebody into win, I felt it was a great opportunity because that is what they are doing with this place. They want to turn this place around, get this place back to the way it was.”

It has not been a perfectly smooth welcome to Miami for Parcells.

One of his first decisions involved the Dolphins parting ways with longtime defensive star Zach Thomas, who, ironically, ended up with the Cowboys. And then came the whole “Dancing with the Stars” brouhaha, where 2006 defensive player of the year Jason Taylor appeared on the TV show for several weeks and missed Miami’s offseason program, allegedly raising Parcells’ ire to the point where he snubbed the team’s best player during an encounter at the team’s training facility. Parcells said he simply didn’t realize Taylor was nearby, but there’s still rampant speculation on whether Taylor will soon follow Thomas, his brother-in-law, out of town.

“I don’t let much of what people say bother me,” Parcells says. “When you’ve been in this business as long as I have, if you don’t have a turtle shell, you’re in trouble.”

With the season looming and camp set to begin, football has called him back, just as it has nearly every year of his adult life.

No more mornings of hitting a few balls at ritzy Saratoga National, no more afternoons sitting by the pool or fussing with some gardening, no more evenings enjoying the crisp night air.

Parcells believes he, Ireland and Sparano have already made the Dolphins better.

But the job is just beginning. And that means retirement, again, must wait.

“You’re never happy. There’s always more to do in this game,” Parcells says. “It’s a constant vigil. It really is.”

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