It seemed such an intriguing idea at the time: Bill Parcells, the coaching icon, taking over the New Orleans Saints while his protégé, Sean Payton, served a full-season suspension for his role in the team’s bounty system.
But on Tuesday, Parcells, who had initially indicated he would at least consider the job in large part because of his relationship with Payton, made clear that he intended to remain retired from the sideline and would not coach the Saints.
“Only concern is about my friend Sean Payton,” Parcells said in a text message.
Instead, the Saints are considering turning to Joe Vitt, the team’s assistant head coach, who will serve a six-game suspension at the start of the regular season. Vitt is a close confidant of Payton’s and the N.F.L.’s bounty investigation revealed that he was designated by Payton to report on the activities of Gregg Williams, who was then the defensive coordinator and oversaw the bounty system.
When Payton was injured last season, his coaching duties were divided among several assistants, although Vitt assumed a role closest to a de facto head coach. It might be telling that in the hours after Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld their suspensions Monday, Payton and Vitt met with the coaching staff.
The Saints had no comment Tuesday.
Although nothing has been set in stone, elevating Vitt, who is also the linebackers coach, would leave in place the offensive and defensive coordinators, Pete Carmichael Jr. and Steve Spagnuolo. That would alleviate a concern about further disrupting the team that Payton expressed during the N.F.L.’s league meeting last month. It also offers the Saints a bit of continuity that Parcells, as an outsider with little relationship with members of the Saints coaching staff, could not have provided.
But Vitt’s tenure would have its own challenges. While Payton’s suspension starts April 16 — the same day players can report for off-season workouts — Vitt is allowed to work throughout the off-season and the preseason. He could run the voluntary player workouts and training camp, the schedules for which Payton has already laid out in preparation for his suspension.
Vitt’s suspension would begin with the first week of the regular season, and it is unclear which coach or coaches would make in-game decisions in his absence. He would be eligible to return in mid-October and could coach the final 10 regular-season games and any potential playoff games.
The Saints’ flirtation with Parcells slowed in recent days. Parcells said Monday that since playing golf with Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis during the league meetings, he had had no contact with the Saints about the job. Payton had gauged Parcells’s interest, but even after the round of golf, Parcells said there were still issues to be resolved and even then he was not sure he would take it.
Throughout Parcells’s coaching career, he has considered teams only to change his mind, most notably with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons. Parcells, 70, has not coached since 2006 with the Dallas Cowboys. He was eligible for selection into the Hall of Fame this year but did not receive enough votes. Had he returned to coaching, he would have had to wait another five years before he was eligible again.
Quarterback Drew Brees, speaking to reporters in California about his golf tournament, would not directly answer whether he would be in New Orleans when off-season workouts begin Monday, but said he and his agent continue to work on a long-term deal with the Saints.
He also said he did not know what kind of punishment might be levied against his teammates.
“Whatever’s thrown at us this year, we’ll continue to thrive,” Brees said.
Regarding the bounty situation, Brees said, “This is a shock to all of us” and that the Williams audiotape released late last week was “hard for everybody to hear.”
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