Jim Fassel, who in his rookie season led the New York Giants from last to first in the NFC East, was voted NFL Coach of the Year by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
In a season in which a half-dozen coaches did masterful jobs, Fassel collected 20 votes from a nationwide panel of 48 sports writers and broadcasters. He doubled the total of runner-up Marty Schottenheimer of Kansas City.Tampa Bay's Tony Dungy was next with eight, followed by Bill Parcells of the New York Jets, Bill Cowher of Pittsburgh and Steve Mariucci of San Francisco, each with three, and Jimmy Johnson of Miami with one.
"If you asked me in my wildest dreams, did you think the team could win nine or 10 games, I did," Fassel said. "And if you asked me in my wildest dreams, did you think the team could make the playoffs this year, yes, I did. And in your wildest dreams did you ever think you could win the division, and yeah, I really did think we could.
"But after they told me I won this award, I went home and thought about it. And you know if you asked me in my wildest dreams, did you think you would be coach of the year, no I didn't."
Fassel, 48, replaced Dan Reeves, who feuded with the Giants' front office tandem of George Young and Tom Boisture over personnel decisions. Fassel, who was the University of Utah's football coach from 1985 through 1989, had no qualms about the team's management structure. He stuck to coaching.
"In my planning and thinking and just the way I go about my business I always think about all the potential things that can happen," he said. "I think about anything that can come up and have
it addressed. My responsibility is to make sure everyone is organized and on the same page and anticipate anything that might come up."
After spending 1991 and '92 as an offensive assistant with the Giants, Fassel was the offensive coordinator for two seasons at Denver. John Elway credits
Fassel with improving his techniques and Elway had two strong years working with Fassel.
He next spent a year as quarterbacks coach with the Raiders and then was the offensive coordinator in Arizona last season.
Schottenheimer rebuilt much of his team, allowing former starters such as Neil Smith and Steve Bono to leave as free agents, adding quarterback Elvis Grbac and going with many youngsters on defense. Those moves paid off in a 13-3 record, best in the league along with San Francisco and Green Bay.
Dungy's second season at Tampa Bay was a huge success. He led the Bucs to their best record since 1979 and their first winning season in 15 years. The Bucs made the playoffs as a wild card.
Parcells took the worst team in the league the last two seasons and lifted it to 9-7. The Jets were matched the biggest turnaround in modern NFL history after going 1-15 in 1996.