In January of 2007, Bill Parcells retired as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys after a four-year run. For the first three of those four seasons, Sean Payton was the Cowboys’ assistant head coach, quarterbacks’ coach and eventually became the passing game coordinator as well.
Payton was as close to being the Cowboys’ head coach under Parcells as one could get without the title. And he was responsible for bringing quarterback Tony Romo to Dallas. Many believe that if Parcells had retired one season earlier than Payton would have been the next head coach of America’s Team.