While the Los Angeles Rams stumble along toward another season of disappointment, the status of their coach, John Robinson, once again has become the subject of conjecture.
It has been learned from two sources, both with lengthy National Football League ties, that the Rams would like to hire former New York Giant coach Bill Parcells to replace Robinson at the end of the season."Parcells is definitely interested in the job," one source said. "Why wouldn't he be? He's still young . He wants to get back in coaching. Southern California is a great media area just like New York."
"The San Diego Chargers also were interested in Parcells, but he's not interested in them because of the presence of Bobby Beathard (Charger general manager)," the other source said. "One of the reasons Parcells left the Giants was because he didn't get along with George Young (Giants general manager). He doesn't want to work for another domineering general manager."
Parcells, now an NBC commentator, has confided to friends that he wants to return to coaching - and it's not surprising that he would be receptive to an offer from the Rams.
It's been reported that Tampa Bay owner Hugh Culverhouse also wants Parcells, who unexpectedly resigned after leading the Giants to a Super Bowl upset over the Buffalo Bills in January.
During his eight seasons in New York, he led the Giants to five playoff appearances, two Super Bowl titles, and an 85-52-1 record.
A storied motivator and keen strategist, Parcells ranked among the NFL's top coaches with Washington's Joe Gibbs and Miami's Don Shula.
The possible uncoupling of Robinson might be stunning to some since Robinson signed a three-year contract extension in the off-season, but sources close to the Rams claim only his estimated $700,000 salary this year is fully guaranteed.
Actually, Rams management wanted to detach Robinson last season for the team's 5-11 record, but owner Georgia Frontiere became intimidated by national media pressure against such a move and reluctantly decided against it.
To appease Rams management, Robinson fired six assistants, a controversial decision that has left him an unpopular figure in the coaching fraternity.
In his ninth season with the Rams - the longest coaching tenure in the team's history - Robinson has had a well-documented feud with Rams' executive vice-president John Shaw for years, although they reportedly resolved their differences in the off-season.
Still, you wonder if such advertised harmony between two long-time antagonists was nothing more than a superficial public relations ploy calculated to show that divergent forces no longer polluted the Rams hierachy.
Robinson long has been privately critical of Shaw's tight fiscal policies that have resulted in the team always having a deluge of training camp holdouts - and a lot of other players on the roster unhappy about their salaries.
Shaw promised last winter that the Rams would open up their coffers, but not much seems to have changed, considering the team lost a valuable possession receiver, Pete Holohan, to Plan B and dealt veteran offensive tackle Irv Pankey to Indianapolis after a long contract dispute.
The Rams, who are in desperate need of a defensive lineman who can rush the passer, didn't make a serious bid during the summer to get one when San Diego's Lee Williams was available (Williams is now playing for the Houston Oilers).
These developments all have to be upsetting to Robinson, whose struggling team is 1-3 and faces Green Bay Sunday at Anaheim Stadium.
Despite the obstacles, Robinson has had only two losing seasons with the Rams - and his teams have qualified for the playoffs six times.
Of course, success never has translated into security for a Rams coach.
In fact, one of the hallowed legacies of the Rams organization is for the owner to fire successful coaches.
After leading the Rams to their only world championship in 1951, Joe Stydahar was fired the next season by Dan Reeves. In later years, Reeves would fire two legendary coaches, Sid Gillman and George Allen, who never had a losing season with the Rams.
Chuck Knox didn't, either - he won five straight Western Division titles - but that didn't keep Carroll Rosenbloom from giving him the foot after the 1977 season.
George Allen returned to the Rams in 1978 at the behest of Rosenbloom - only to be sacked after two exhibition games.