NFL -- N.Y. Jets Settle For Belichick -- Former Browns Coach Will Keep Job Warm Until Parcells Becomes Available

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - Unable to strike a deal with the New England Patriots for Bill Parcells, the New York Jets today hired him as a consultant and plan to make him their coach no later than next year.

For now, Bill Belichick, Parcells' longtime aide, will become the interim coach and run the team's football operations. Steve Gutman, president of the Jets, said Belichick also is likely to be the successor after Parcells coaches "two or more years."

"Bill and I will work in concert as we always have and I think we'll be successful," Belichick said at a news conference at the Jets' headquarters.

"I will just act in an advisory capacity," Parcells added, speaking at the news conference by phone from the Boston area. He said he planned to watch the Jets' games in person.

Parcells, who coached the Patriots to the Super Bowl this season, will have no responsibility in coaching or personnel matters although he is to have an office at the Jets' complex, Gutman said.

"A consultant consults," Gutman said. "He does not make decisions."

Last week, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue ruled that Parcells' contract gave the Patriots the "exclusive option" on the coach's NFL services in 1997 and he could not take any other position with another team.

Gutman refused to say whether the Jets received permission from the NFL before agreeing to hire Parcells as a consultant.

"I know the Jets would not have proceeded unless they cleared that with the commissioner," Parcells said.

Belichick, who was the Cleveland Browns' head coach for five seasons, spent last season as Parcells' defensive coordinator with the Patriots.

Clearly, he is not the coach the woeful Jets sought. But with negotiations with New England to acquire Parcells going nowhere and the Jets adamant in retaining their overall No. 1 draft pick, the club turned to Belichick as a successor to Rich Kotite, filling the last NFL coaching vacancy.

Gutman said negotiations for Parcells to take over sooner were continuing between the Jets' owner, Leon Hess, and the Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft. Gutman reiterated that the Jets will not give up the first pick in April's draft to secure Parcells as their coach for next season.

Belichick inherits a team that went 3-13 and 1-15 the past two seasons under Kotite. He will be the fourth coach the team has had in five years, and Parcells presumably would become the fifth in six years when he takes over the next season.

"It's great to be back in the area," said Belichick, Parcells' defensive coordinator on the New York Giants' two Super Bowl winners.

TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW FOR CARROLL

FOXBORO, Mass. - Pete Carroll, who had a losing record in his only season as an NFL head coach, knows he'll be compared to Bill Parcells.

"We're following a heck of a coach. We're following a heck of a season," Carroll said after he was appointed to succeed Parcells as New England's coach. "It couldn't get any tougher. I like it."

Carroll, San Francisco's defensive coordinator the past two seasons, got a five-year contract to coach the AFC champions.

"I want everyone in the organization to know he's not on trial" and that management won't panic if the team suffers a setback next season, Patriot owner Bob Kraft said.

Carroll lasted one year as coach of the New York Jets. He was fired after a 6-10 season in 1994.

NOTES

-- NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told civic boosters in San Diego that the league is prepared to move the 1998 Super Bowl to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., if the expansion of Jack Murphy Stadium is stopped by a judge. A lawsuit filed by activists challenging the expansion of the city-owned stadium from 61,000 to 71,500 seats will be heard Feb. 20.

-- Mike White, fired as Oakland's head coach on Christmas Eve, was named assistant head coach and tight-ends coach of the St. Louis Rams.

-- Art Shell, another former Raider head coach, was named offensive-line coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

-- San Francisco waived Dexter Carter and Derek Loville, former starters at running back.

-- The Miami Dolphins terminated the contracts of defensive back J.B. Brown and linebacker Chris Singleton. Singleton started 13 games this past season.

-- Ed Danowski, an all-pro back for the New York Giants who led the NFL in passing from 1935-38, died Saturday in East Patchogue, N.Y., of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 85.

Compiled from Associated Press, Gannett News Service, Los Angeles Times and Reuters.