Beneath Bill Parcells’ gruff exterior there exists a teddy bear. 

Longtime New York-area sports scribe Gary Myers has a book coming out about the Super Bowl champion 1986 Giants, entitled “Once a Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football.” 

Myers went on WFAN’s “Boomer & Gio” Friday morning, with Jerry Recco and Joe Benigno filling in, and spoke about how Parcells has been a financial lifeline of last resort for upwards of 20 of his former players. 

“People are going to find out how Bill Parcells has made this transition from a guy who had love-hate relationships with his players to the patriarch of that ’86 team, now that Wellington Mara has been gone for awhile and Bill has had his 82nd birthday recently,” Myers said. 

Myers continued with specific magnanimous figures on the part of Parcells. 

“It’s just incredibly generous what he’s done with these guys. Bill has loaned out $4 million to 20 players that played for him, who come to him in this financial crisis. Bill knows when they come to him it’s a last resort,” Myers said. 

“I said to him, ‘Bill, you know, $4 million, you don’t expect anybody to pay you back. Why are you doing that?’ 

“And he said, ‘These guys have sacrificed so much for me with their bodies and their commitment.’ ” 

Parcells gave the loans — most of which were to members of the 1986 Giants, though a few were to other Giants and players on other teams he coached — without any expectation to be paid back. 

Now 82, Parcells coached the Giants for eight seasons from 1983-90, leading the team to its first two Super Bowl titles in 1986 and 1990, respectively, before a short-lived retirement due to health problems. But he returned to the NFL just three years later, taking over as the Patriots head coach in 1993. 

He spent four seasons with the Patriots before coaching the Jets for three years and then the Cowboys for the final four seasons of his career before retiring again. Parcells is the only coach to lead four different franchises to the playoffs and owns a 172-130-1 lifetime record in the NFL. 

“He’s put away money he needs for the rest of his life, he’s given money to his kids, and what he has left he’s designated to help those close to him who need it. I think it’s unprecedented,” Myers said. 

“I don’t think I know of any other coach who sits down and writes checks to his former players who are really in financial need. It’s really a cool story.” 

The Giants had been engulfed in likely the darkest period of the team’s history before Parcells took over, and he almost never got the chance to forge his esteemed legacy. The Giants had just one winning season in the decade before Parcells arrived, and they struggled through a disastrous season his first year, finishing 3-12-1. Parcells came under heavy criticism, most notably for his controversial decision to start Scott Brunner at quarterback over Phil Simms. 

George Young, the team’s longtime general manager at the time, wanted to fire Parcells after just the one season, infamously offering the job to University of Miami coach Howard Schnellenberger. But Schnellenberger declined, and Young decided to let Parcells keep his job. 

Parcells turned to Simms his second year in charge, and the two subsequently formed one of the most successful head coach-quarterback pairing in NFL history. 

For his book, Myers interviewed a wide range of figures including Parcells, Bill Belichick, Lawrence Taylor, Mark Bavaro, Carl Banks and Phil Simms.