Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells meets with Sean Payton, discusses interim coaching role at New Orleans Saints - NFL News
New Orleans Saints are looking for a head coach to take over the role in the interim as current coach Sean Payton starts his one year suspension from the game on April 1st.
The Saints are expected to announce a name by the end of this month and it seems that Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells is in the front row to take over New Orleans.
Parcells and Payton met with each other on Tuesday, as both coaches played a game of golf and it is believed they have talked about the Saints job.
Parcells and Payton have history as the current Saints head coach was the offensive coordinator under Parcells during his stint with the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaking with the New York Daily News, the 70-year-old retired coach said that he and Payton just played golf but he expects New Orleans to contact him again on a later date.
"We played golf. We really didn't talk about the job. They told me they would be in touch."
Payton himself played down the rumours and said that the decision is in the hands of the Saints owner and general manager, while he just visited his mentor and had a fun time.
“This is something involving Mickey and our owner (Tom Benson)," Payton said. "Certainly for a guy like Bill, if this is a possibility down the road, he would want to know all the specifics. But we haven't gotten to that stage at all.
Adding further he said.
"He is someone that I would look up and visit and go play golf with regardless if I were here at the meetings. Talking with him is very normal. He's someone that I talk to frequently about football matters."
The Saints assistant coach Joe Vitt would have been the front runner for the job but his six-game suspension for involvement in the bounty scandal also keeps him out of the head coaching role.
New Orleans were slapped with hefty fines and suspensions after the league found them guilty of running an illegal bounty program paying players bonuses for injuring targeted opponents.
The Saints will hope that a temporary coach is hired soon so they can get on with the business of preparing for the new 2012-13 season.
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