SAN ANTONIO (AP) – As Bill Parcells prepares for his first season with the Dallas Cowboys, the most anticipated training-camp decision is who the coach will pick as the starting quarterback.

Will it be Chad Hutchinson, the incumbent? Or Quincy Carter, who started the last two openers? Could he rattle everyone and go with longtime third-stringer Clint Stoerner, or even undrafted rookie Tony Romo?

Here’s something else to ponder: Will it matter?

Parcells has said repeatedly he hopes to pick a starter by the end of training camp. All that means, though, is the winner will be under center Sept. 7 against Atlanta.

Using Parcells’ past as a guide, there’s no guarantee that person will have the job when it matters most.

While Parcells has turned losing teams into playoff squads with all three teams he’s coached, he handled the quarterback spot differently each time. The only constants are making the playoffs in his second season and being led there by a record-setting passer.

• In his first year as a head coach, with the New York Giants, Parcells picked Scott Brunner over Phil Simms. Brunner started every game the previous season while Simms recovered from an injury. Simms, who was the team’s top passer the three seasons before that, was healthy again when Parcells bypassed him.

Parcells realized he made a mistake and turned to Simms the next season. He responded by setting club records for attempts, completions and yards, and the Giants went from 3-12-1 to 9-7 and a wild-card berth. They went on to win two Super Bowls.

• In New England, Parcells drafted Drew Bledsoe with the No. 1 overall pick and let him take over right away. The Patriots won five games, up from two the previous season.

They jumped to 10-6 and a wild card the following season. Bledsoe set team records for attempts, completions and yards, and became the youngest quarterback to ever play in the Pro Bowl. He got them to the Super Bowl two years later.

• With the New York Jets, Parcells began by giving Neil O’Donnell the starting job he lost because of injury the previous season. O’Donnell was benched at midseason and replaced by Glenn Foley. The team went from 1-15 to 9-7, one of the biggest improvements in league history.

O’Donnell was released in the offseason and Foley became the starter. Vinny Testaverde was signed soon after and began the season as the emergency QB. Then Foley got hurt, Testaverde took over and Parcells had his best second season. The Jets went 12-4 and made the AFC championship game, with Testaverde setting a team record for touchdown passes and making the Pro Bowl.

Parcells obviously has no mold. All he wants is the player who can get the team into the end zone most often, with an emphasis on not making mistakes.

“I’m not interested in being 8-8, so I’m not interested in a quarterback that I think could get me to 8-8,” Parcells said earlier this summer.

So far, Hutchinson (2-7 as a starter) and Carter (6-9) are getting equal snaps as they vie for the top job. Stoerner (1-1) and Romo are splitting the remaining time.

“I’m going to try to be pretty equal with repetitions, try to make sure I put each quarterback in similar situations with a cast around them that’s comparable so the balance of competition is really, truly fair,” Parcells said Sunday.

The Cowboys steered clear of the four quarterbacks taken in the first round of the draft, and didn’t pursue available veterans such as Jake Plummer, Brian Griese and Ray Lucas, who played for Parcells on the Jets.

Owner-general manager Jerry Jones said the plan was for Parcells to choose between players already under contract.

“We really improve our chances as a franchise if we hit on a quarterback without having to go out and take a risk on a Plummer-type contract or without having to go up there at the top of the draft and giving out a multimillion-dollar contract and having the risks involved in that,” Jones said.

Jones said the bottom line is finding out whether the team’s long-term starter is already on the roster.

“We don’t know that it’s not there,” he said. “The possibility that it can be is pretty compelling.”

AP-ES-07-27-03 1640EDT