Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft praise Bill Parcells

Bill Parcells is one of seven people who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year in Canton, Ohio, and the decision made to select Parcells was quite obvious. Parcells is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, and he was responsible for turning around the New England Patriots franchise by putting them into the playoffs in 1994 for the first time since 1986.

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Parcells, now 71, won two Super Bowls as the head coach of the New York Giants, and he took the Patriots to the Super Bowl in 1996. They weren’t able to defeat Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, but the fact that Parcells led them there in his final season was enough to take the franchise to the next step. Parcells would have five more winning seasons in seven combined seasons with the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys to cap off his career as one of the most successful coaches of all time.

He owns a career 57% winning percentage with ten playoff appearances and 172 career victories. Parcells’s coaching tree is just as impressive as Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick, Sean Payton, Romeo Crennel, Tony Sparano, Eric Mangini, and Todd Haley are all notable names who have worked under Bill Parcells at various coaching stops.

Here is what Bill Belichick had to say about the Hall of Fame bound head coach, “Bill Parcells has been thought of as one of the all-time greats for a long time, so it is with great pride that we can officially refer to him as a Hall of Famer. He deserves all the recognition he is getting and for his career to be celebrated in Canton forever.”

I’m sure almost everybody will agree with this statement, and Belichick knows Parcells’s greatness first hand as BB was his defensive coordinator for the two-time Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

Now here is what Robert Kraft had to say about Parcells being inducted into the Hall of Fame, “Congratulations to Coach Parcells on his election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It is well deserved. As a Patriots fan, I will always appreciate the credibility he brought to our franchise as a two-time Super Bowl champion. We had never had a head coach with those credentials. I am very happy for Bill and look forward to his enshrinement ceremonies.”

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.