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During spring practice at Texas Tech, Parcells noted a man sitting in the stand, scrutinizing the defense. His face was weather-beaten, and he wore a brown jack emblazoned with a white "B."
Occasionally, when the opportunity presented itself, the man stepped forward to question Parcells about his schemes. After a few exchanges he told Parcells in a bass-heavy drawl, "You know, you're a pretty good coach."
Seeing the stranger at practice for several days, Parcells approached him to get his name and exchange pleasantries. Gordon Wood confirmed Parcells' guess that he was a high school coach.
Parcells said, "I notice you're here every day. Where are you coming from?"
Wood responded, "Brownwood."
Parcells knew that the central Texas town was a three-and-a-half-hour drive away. "Are you staying in a hotel here?"
"No, no. I just drive back and forth."
Parcells was flabbergasted to learn that Wood was one of the winningest coaches in the history of high school football, which was like a religion in the Lone Star State. By amassing more than three hundred victories while coaching in a sports coach and tie, Wood had become a Texas icon. Most of the wins came with the Brownwood Lions, a team he had transformed into a dynasty. Wood's stature gave him friends like Bear Bryant and Lyndon Johnson. Once, when Bryant was asked why he quite Texas A&M for Alabama in 1958, he responded, "I had to leave Texas. As long as Gordon Wood was there, I could never be the best coach in the state."
Despite a secure legacy, Wood was willing to drive almost seven hours round-trip to sit in the white hot son for the slim chance of gleaning something useful from an obscure defensive coordinator. Parcells had prided himself on a relentless work ethic, but Wood's actions provided an aha moment: succeeding at the highest levels in coaching required long-term zeal, although that went against human nature. "It was a revelation to me," Parcells says. "I was just a young guy, and he'd already been an established super coach. That's what impressed me so much: he was still hustling."
