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Having finished the initial practice of training camp, Dallas Cowboys tailback Troy Hambrick ducked into the Alamodome tunnel that leads to the locker room and emitted a noise that was part frustration, part relief, and all about fatigue.
Within earshot, coach Bill Parcells heard the guttural tone, and turned to Dave Meggett, one of his former players, who served as a coaching intern during the Cowboys' camp.
"Hey, Meggett," yelled Parcells, loud enough to ensure Hambrick's attention. "You better tell him what to expect."
Meggett, stifling a chuckle and pausing just long enough for dramatic effect, replied "If I do, man, he's liable to leave."
One has to wonder: Had Parcells known what to expect, had he understood precisely what he was inheriting in a team that has finished 5-11 in each of its past three seasons, would he leave? For that matter, would Parcells even originally have agreed to another coaching reincarnation and put his reputation and his Hall of Fame credentials on the line? Would he have given in to owner Jerry Jones' sales pitch, or just stayed home in New Jersey, did some television and radio gigs, bet the ponies, and watched the NFL parade from a spectator's seat?
Given that the NFL is his lifeblood, that coaching pervades every fiber of his being, it's likely that Parcells would have returned anyway. His strange coupling with Jones, however, is the ultimate NFL marriage of convenience.
Having bolted the league marketing plan and struck out on his own, Jones has plenty of Cowboys merchandise to sell, and he must huckster luxury suites and sponsorships and build momentum for the new stadium he is seeking. For his part, Parcells needed to scratch the old coaching itch that he has never fully been able to assuage.
Parcells publicly rejected the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after reaching a quiet understanding to succeed Tony Dungy, after the 2001 season. More quietly, he rebuffed the more private overtures of the San Diego Chargers, who wanted him as desperately as the Bucs did. But you just knew, despite his adamant stance to the contrary, Parcells would be back.
"I don't think there will ever be a time, even after I've left the game for good," Parcells said after the first camp session, "when I won't care. I don't think it will ever get to the point where I just think, 'OK, it's football season now, and I don't have any interest in that.' ... Once you leave football, it's like you were never there. Now that I'm back, it's like I was never gone."
Football is, Parcells acknowledged that opening day of camp, "what I do." And he has done it well enough to be regarded as one of the game's coaching giants. Taking on the resurrection of the Cowboys, though, could well be his most daunting task. Fact is, he has already confided to friends that steering the high-profile franchise back to respectability could be a demanding process.
His track record at stops with the New York Giants, New England Patriots and New York Jets has been remarkably consistent. In each case, he shepherded sputtering franchises to playoff berths in only his second season, and the average bump over those first two years was an eight-victory improvement.
To keep that standard intact, however, Dallas would have to win 13 games in 2004, and such a quantum leap seems almost unfathomable. The talent base is thin. The defense, built for quickness and not the kind of muscle Parcells prefers, means he will have to adjust. The quarterbacking is shaky and Parcells isn't in love with any of the candidates to succeed Emmitt Smith at tailback. The offensive line, thought to be a strength, is hurting. Parcells lost his new starting center, second-round draft pick Al Johnson, to a season-ending knee injury the first week of camp. Left guard and onetime perennial Pro Bowl performer Larry Allen is out of shape and a shadow of what he used to be. The cornerbacks are beat up.
Little wonder that, out of frustration, Parcells and his staff abondoned a practice session last week, leaving the players to their own devices. Of course, the next day, Parcells was back, because he just can't stay away.
"You can see," allowed one Cowboys veteran, "that he still thrives on the teaching part of this. The guy was born to be a coach. But this team, let me tell you, is going to tax him. It will take a guy like him to get us straightened out. But let me tell you, it's also going to take everything he's got."
Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.