Bill Parcells is one of the most successful and iconic coaches in NFL history. He led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories in the 1980s and later coached the New England Patriots and New York Jets. Parcells has long been known by the nickname “The Big Tuna.” But where exactly did this distinctive moniker come from? The origin story is quite fascinating.
The Early Years
Bill Parcells, born Duane Charles Parcells in 1941 in Englewood, New Jersey, was an excellent athlete from a young age He played football, basketball, and baseball at River Dell High School and earned a football scholarship to Colgate University After college, Parcells was drafted by the Detroit Lions but was released by the team before playing a game in the NFL.
Parcells then embarked on a coaching career, working as an assistant coach at several colleges including Wichita State, Army, and Texas Tech In 1979, he got his big break when he was hired as the linebackers coach for the New York Giants under head coach Ray Perkins.
Earning His Nickname with the Giants
According to Parcells himself, he first acquired the “Tuna” nickname during his early days with the Giants organization. As linebackers coach, one of Parcells’ responsibilities was to study game film, looking for tendencies and weaknesses in upcoming opponents that the Giants could exploit.
Parcells took this job extremely seriously. He would lock himself in a small windowless room in Giants Stadium for hours at a time, meticulously analyzing footage. The room had poor reception for the large antennas TVs used in that era. Parcells would try several locations in the gym to get a signal. His diligence and attention to detail earned him the nickname “Tuner”. This subsequently became “Tuna” likely due to the accents of the New York media who covered the Giants.
When Ray Perkins left the Giants in 1982, Parcells was promoted to head coach. He inherited a team that had struggled to a 3-12-1 record the year before. But with Parcells in charge, the Giants embarked on one of the great turnarounds in NFL history. They went 9-7 in Parcells’ first year and made the playoffs. In 1986, led by legendary players like Lawrence Taylor, Joe Morris, and Phil Simms, the Giants compiled a 14-2 regular season record and rolled through the playoffs. Parcells culminated a remarkable transformation by leading Big Blue to a Super Bowl XXI victory over the Denver Broncos.
Success with the Patriots and Jets
After eight seasons and a second Super Bowl title with the Giants, Parcells retired from coaching in 1991. But he couldn’t stay away for long. In 1993 he was hired as head coach of the New England Patriots, another struggling franchise. Once again, Parcells performed wonders in turning around a losing team. He took the Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI in 1996, although they lost to the Green Bay Packers.
In 1997, Parcells shocked the football world by resigning as coach of the Patriots and becoming the head coach of the New York Jets – the Giants’ archrivals. While he never reached the Super Bowl with the Jets, Parcells did lead them to the AFC Championship game in 1998. He retired again after the 1999 season but eventually returned to the sidelines for a fourth stint with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006.
Why “The Big Tuna”?
So Parcells’ nickname originated during his early days with the Giants when he was dubbed “The Tuner” for his tireless film study habits. But when did “Tuner” morph into “Tuna” and why was the “Big” added to it?
The exact details are hazy, but most accounts suggest it happened shortly after Parcells became the Giants head coach in 1983. The New York media started referring to him as “The Tuna” early in his first season. There are a few theories as to why:
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The Tuner/Tuna wordplay was an easier rhyme and rolled off the tongue better.
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Sportswriters with thick New York accents pronounced Tuner as “Tuna.”
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Tuna refers to Charlie the Tuna, the cartoon mascot for StarKist tuna, who was determined to get caught because he had “good taste.” This was an analogy for Parcells being determined to become an NFL head coach.
The nickname was popularized in a 1983 New York Daily News article by Dave Anderson. But why add the “Big” modifier? Simple – it was a reference to Parcells’ large stature. Standing at 6’3″ and often weighing over 250 pounds during his coaching career, he truly was a “Big Tuna.”
The Nickname Catches On
At first, Parcells reportedly wasn’t fond of his new moniker. But he eventually embraced it, as did NFL fans and the media. “The Big Tuna” seemed to perfectly capture Parcells’ outsized personality and leadership style.
By 1985, Parcells was appearing in commercials as The Big Tuna. There were Big Tuna posters, T-shirts, and merchandise. Announcers, analysts, and fellow coaches referred to him as “The Tuna” constantly. Over time, Bill Parcells and his alter-ego Big Tuna became inseparable.
While Parcells’ NFL career ended in 2006, he still makes occasional media appearances where he’s always addressed as “The Big Tuna.” He may not have liked it much at first, but Parcells has fully embraced his unique nickname. For NFL fans, he’ll always be remembered as one of the game’s most successful coaches – and The Big Tuna.
The origin of the ‘Big Tuna’
Parcells said that the Patriots players gave him the nickname during his one season as the team’s linebackers coach in 1980.
“They were trying to get me to sign up for a free turkey that doesnt exist,” Parcells said during a 2013 interview on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “[I said] what do you think I am, Charlie the Tuna? And that goes back to that StarKist commercial where Charlie was kind of a sucker. … I was a rookie coach [in 1980]. I knew there was something fishy because too many guys asked me.”
After a short time with the Detroit Lions (he was let go during rookie training camp), Parcells quickly became a coach. He began as a linebackers coach at Wichita State, where he went to school. After that, he worked as an assistant coach at Army, Florida State, Vanderbilt, and Texas Tech. His first job as a head coach was at Air Force.
After his first season at Air Force, Parcells was offered the job as the Giants new offensive coordinator. Even though Parcells accepted the job at first, he ultimately chose to stay in Colorado with his family because he didn’t want to move them again. He instead became a real estate agent and spent some of his free time that fall as a Broncos season ticket holder.
“I was miserable,” Parcells said in an NFL Films documentary. “Thats about the best way to put it. At some point in time, my wife realized, Youre a coach. Go back to doing what you love doing if you can go do it.”
Parcells ultimately got back into the NFL a year later with the Patriots. He was hired back by the Giants in 1981 and became their new head coach two years later.
In 1978, Bill Belichick was an assistant coach for the Broncos and Parcells was at Air Force. The two got to know each other. After the 1978 season, Belichick asked Parcells if there were any openings on his staff. But Parcells didn’t want to say anything because he was in the process of joining the Giants staff.
Belichick found out why Parcells didn’t want to do it when he saw him at the Denver airport. Both men were going to New York to take jobs as assistant coaches with the Giants. Parcells didn’t stay in New York, but when the Giants hired him back in 1983, he started working with Belichick.
Parcells first year as the Giants head coach was rocky as the team went just 3-13 that season. Because he wasn’t sure what would happen with the team after the first season, he let Belichick go after other coaching jobs. But Belichick chose to stay with the Giants instead of leaving town, even though he had the chance to work for the Vikings. He said that Parcells’ permission to look for other opportunities was one reason he chose to stay.
“In the end, that probably is what made me want to stay more than anything,” Belichick said in an ESPN documentary. “I said, Bill, Im not going to Minnesota. I want to be here, and I want to do everything I can to make this work.”
In 1985, Parcells chose Belichick, who was 33 years old at the time, to be the Giants’ new defensive coordinator as a reward for his loyalty. The next year, Belichick was helped off the field by New York’s defense after the Giants beat Washington in the NFC Championship Game. The Giants won the Super Bowl two weeks later.
The two made more history four years later. The Giants shocked the 49ers in the 1990 NFC title game, thanks to a strong defense. This kept San Francisco from becoming the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. In Super Bowl XXV, Belichick and Parcells came up with a plan to keep the Giants’ offense on the field and the Bills’ high-scoring offense off the field. They did this by having Otis Anderson run the ball and only having three defensive players rush the ball at the same time. They also didn’t let Buffalo’s receivers gain yards after the catch. New York’s defense held Buffalo to just 19 points, and the Giants’ offense had the ball for over 40 minutes, which was a Super Bowl record.
One of the best things about Parcell as a coach was that he could make teams successful that were having trouble before he came along. From 1973 to 1983, New York only had one winning season. In 1984, Parcells led the Giants to their first of three straight playoff appearances. Parcells often says that the 1984 Giants were his first playoff team and that they saved his job, which led to his Hall of Fame career.
The Patriots had not been to the playoffs since 1986, the year before Parcells was hired. That year, they won their first Super Bowl. The Patriots had a 10-6 record and made the playoffs in Parcells’ second season. They lost to Belichick’s Browns in the wild card round. After two years, the Patriots won the AFC title with Belichick back on Parcells’ staff in his last year with the team.
In 1997, Parcells took over a Jets team that went 1-15 the previous season. New York shocked many by doing 9-7 that season while finishing just out of the playoffs. The next season, the Jets went 12–4 and had the defending champion Broncos on the ropes until Elway led one last comeback in the 1998 AFC Championship. The game took place in the stadium where Parcells had been a season ticket holder twenty years before.
In 2003, Belichick took over a Cowboys team that had gone 5-11 each of the previous three seasons. When Parcells first came to Dallas, the Cowboys made the playoffs. In his last season as coach, 2006, they made it back to the playoffs.
Belichick is the headliner, but the Parcells coaching tree includes several other prominent names. Among the other members of Parcells coaching tree are Super Bowl-winning head coaches Tom Coughlin and Sean Payton.
When Payton became head coach of the Broncos in 2023, he said that his main goal is to become the first head coach to lead more than one team to a Super Bowl win, something that Parcells almost did but didn’t quite do.
The larger-than-life coach left a lasting impact on the NFL By
If there was ever an NFL match made in heaven, it was the one in New York between the Big Tuna and the Big Apple. In a city that loves big personalities and lots of wins, Bill Parcells gave it all while coaching the Giants and Jets for more than ten years.
The larger-than-life coach took over as the Giants head coach in 1983. In just three years, Parcells led the team to its first Super Bowl win, a 39–20 win over the Denver Broncos of John Elway. Four years later, Parcells and the Giants made a dramatic return to the top. In the only Super Bowl decided by a single point, New York beat the Bills.
Even though Parcells didn’t win a championship with the Jets, he did lead the team to an AFC Championship Game and oversaw one of the best turnarounds in NFL history in just one year.
Parcells career also included notable coaching stops in New England and Dallas. In 1996, the Patriots reached the Super Bowl for only the second time in franchise history. After leading the Cowboys to the playoffs with Tony Romo as their starting quarterback in his first season, Parcells retired as a coach.
In light of his 82nd birthday, here are five fast facts about Parcells:
Inside the Legendary Career of ‘The Big Tuna’ Bill Parcells | New York Giants
FAQ
How did Bill Parcells get the nickname the Big Tuna?
What does the nickname Big Tuna mean?
What is Bill Parcells’ real first name?
Why was Bill Parcells such a good coach?
Why is Parcells called Big Tuna?
It was here that Parcells’ famous nickname “Big Tuna” took hold. The name itself is a mis-statement of his actual nickname “Tuner”. There were few radio stations in Wichita at the time, so players often trained without music.
Who is Bill Parcells?
“The Big Tuna” came to New York in 1981 as the team’s linebackers coach and defensive coordinator. He became head coach in 1983 and transformed the Giants into one of the most feared teams in the league. Some wise words from Bill Parcells on his 81st birthday. pic.twitter.com/90ybQ5oYyZ — Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) August 23, 2022
Who is Bill Belichick’s ‘Big Tuna’?
It’s been more than a decade since he coached his last football game. Yet, his coaching tree is still flourishing and will be on display this weekend as Bill Belichick and Sean Payton coach in the National Football League’s divisional playoff round. The “Big Tuna,” as he affectionately became known, grew up in New Jersey.
Why is Duane Parcells called Bill?
After a while, Duane Parcells realized he liked being called “Bill” more than his birth name and didn’t bother correcting people who made the mistake. From then on, he was known as Bill Parcells. As he progressed through middle school, Parcells added football and basketball to his sports repertoire.