The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL
Football geniusBill Parcellsisn't one to mince words. "I'm  56 years old," he says at the beginning ofThe Final Season, "and I don't  intend to be coaching when I'm 60." Unless something changes radically, he's  already honored that intention with three years to spare.The coach who led the Giants to two Super Bowl victories and turned the New  England Patriots into AFC champions came back to New York in 1997 to tackle the  rebuilding of the woeful 1-15 Jets. Within a year they were legitimate  contenders, playing for the AFC Championship. When the 1999-2000 season kicked  off, hopes were soaring at the Meadowlands. But there was new ownership to  contend with. Keyshawn Johnson demanded a renegotiation. Injuries sidelined  Wayne Chrebet, and quarterback Vinnie Testaverde went down in the season opener,  lost for the year. Suddenly, the Jets were 1-6. Then came the turnaround.  Sparked by the inspired--and unexpected--play of third-string QB Ray Lucas, the  Jets wound up winning seven of their last nine, and then, equally unexpected,  Parcells retired as head coach. In perhaps the season's most bizarre fiasco, his  designated heir, Bill Belichick, resigned immediately.The Final Seasonis Parcells's week-by-week account of the campaign. If  you love football, the chronicle is goodinsidefootball. Parcells  provides detailed analysis of every win and loss and uncensored assessments of  his players, himself--"Our general manager (that would be me) didn't have a  great year," he admits--and the flap-turned-farce that attended his exit. But  it's more than that, too.Final Seasonis a story of ups and downs, of  strong emotions, of coping with frustration and disappointment, and of unifying  a team when the chips are down. Parcells is savvy, complex, never shy, and never  boring. WithThe Final Season,he cannily marches readers down the field  just as he did his teams.--Jeff Silverman