BillsFever
06-30-2003, 11:35 PM
IRVING, Texas - Their relationship spans three decades - first as player and coach, then as coaching peers and confidents.
Now, twenty-eight years after Bill Parcells offered David Lee his first coaching job as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech University, their coaching paths have crossed yet again, this time under the shining star of the Dallas Cowboys.
Only this time, Lee didn't pass on Parcells' proposal.
Parcells was defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt when Lee, the Cowboys new offensive assistant coach, was quarterbacking the Commodores in the early 1970s. In 1974, Parcells' dominating defense and Lee's All-Southeastern Conference arm led Vandy to a 7-3-2 record and a Peach Bowl berth. One year later, Parcells bolted with head coach Steve Sloan for Texas Tech and offered his former quarterback a position on the Tech staff.
Lee, however, was more intrigued by another offer to coach the quarterbacks and receivers at Tennessee-Martin under George MacIntyre, another Vanderbilt assistant and father of Cowboys assistant secondary coach Mike MacIntyre.
"I could go to Texas Tech and chase film, go get everybody coffee, or I could go to Martin and coach a position," he said.
So Lee left the errands to Parcells and coached for two years at Tennessee-Martin for a paltry $250 a month. To make ends meet, Lee umpired women's softball during the summer and ran a women's on-campus dormitory with his wife. Yet the coaching experience was valuable to his young career despite the meager pay.
"I made $2,500 a year my first two years but I was coaching three positions," Lee said
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news_063003_lee.html
Now, twenty-eight years after Bill Parcells offered David Lee his first coaching job as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech University, their coaching paths have crossed yet again, this time under the shining star of the Dallas Cowboys.
Only this time, Lee didn't pass on Parcells' proposal.
Parcells was defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt when Lee, the Cowboys new offensive assistant coach, was quarterbacking the Commodores in the early 1970s. In 1974, Parcells' dominating defense and Lee's All-Southeastern Conference arm led Vandy to a 7-3-2 record and a Peach Bowl berth. One year later, Parcells bolted with head coach Steve Sloan for Texas Tech and offered his former quarterback a position on the Tech staff.
Lee, however, was more intrigued by another offer to coach the quarterbacks and receivers at Tennessee-Martin under George MacIntyre, another Vanderbilt assistant and father of Cowboys assistant secondary coach Mike MacIntyre.
"I could go to Texas Tech and chase film, go get everybody coffee, or I could go to Martin and coach a position," he said.
So Lee left the errands to Parcells and coached for two years at Tennessee-Martin for a paltry $250 a month. To make ends meet, Lee umpired women's softball during the summer and ran a women's on-campus dormitory with his wife. Yet the coaching experience was valuable to his young career despite the meager pay.
"I made $2,500 a year my first two years but I was coaching three positions," Lee said
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news_063003_lee.html