I havnt posted here much . . but since i occasionally blow a fuse due to the overload of speculation and mass hysteria over at finheaven i have been banned for the week, besides i kinda like this site better. NEway . . . i am happy with Sparano b/c i feel that most players do like the guy (exception of ricky, who first said he loved playing back up to ronnie, now he doesnt get ball enough? whatever love the guy but move on) BUT the main reason is because - Harbaugh is way overhyped right now. Most college coaches who come to the league do not have much success as of recent, we would be taking a huge gamble. Also, Cowher would want to start over from scratch. Guy has a good track record but i beleive we have a pretty decent team with a ton of potential i say no thanks to starting from scratch again. Jimmy Johnson didnt leave us in the best shape to make a super bowl run did he? ALSO - Henne and Henning are the reasons for the offensive detractors on this team it is obvious. Only Ricky has thrown Tony under the bus, the other players point to Henne and Henning. Look it was obvious all season even from august that Henne didnt have "it" . . . he dove on the ground, blowing a block and letting Brandon Marshall get nailed on one play. guy has no fire and no passion, couple that with Hennings crappy play calling and you have unhappy players. People criticize coach S. for sticking with Henne and Henning all year, but we were supposed to play Henne this year to see if he sank or swam and who knows whose pick he was anyway? In fact, Tony did the best thing he could and mid-season he tried to insert chad pennington - not his fault he got hurt...and watch that game again - u can literally see and feel the deflation of the team after Penny went down. Who better than Sparano to see the shortfalls of Henne and to get it fixed? who better than Tony to realize he needs to win and win now . . . one more year . . let him fix the last 2 problems on this team and see where it gets us. This guy is not a bad coach . . he had an average record in arguably the best division in football with a terrible schedule and one of the worst QBs in the league with one of the most primitive Offensive Coordinators in the game. I like Tony, he'll keep guys like polite with us, he'll keep the atitude and building blocks the same and he'll correct his mistakes (just please get the o-line right this time - thats the only thing i think is his fault) anyway - i hope Tony is the Guy one more year i havnt given up yet. I just never was a Henne fan even tho i wanted him to succeed. I think this has more to do with peoples pre-mature love affair with Henne than anything Tony ever did. they think we should be a superbowl caliber team and talent and QB wise we simply never were. give Sparano a damn break. i think the media has handled this whole thing horribly btw.
Crazy times, agree with your point, the best a NCAA to NFL HC has done in the last 15 yrs is lil nicky's 9-7, and that was a Veteran team, Harbaugh would be stepping into a young team during a lockout, have to hire staff, have to train them in a whole new offensive system etc. Compare that to Sparano finding 3 more wins, to me that is why Harbaugh did not make much sense..at this time.
I think Tony deserves another year. Henning and Henne have blown their chances but Tony deserves another year to prove himself. He has a winning record and until that changes he should stay.
Who hired the coaches for special teams, defense and offense? Offensive line coach Maser fired after one year (seemed like he did a good job). Defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni after two years. Offensive coordinator Dan Henning retired/fired after three years. Special teams coach John Bonamego fired after 2 plus seasons. David Lee, still waiting. Dave DeGuglielmo offensive line coach, still waiting. Who is ultimately responsible for making sure these groups are prepared to play? Not Teflon Tony it seems but his crew is certainly sleeping with the fishes. The media? If the owner is not out in California the media does not have a story. Talk about misplaced blame.
For a while I thought I was literally the only phin fan who wanted to see Sparano get his one more year.
You are not as is evidenced on this site, but I am not in your party. A true low for me in 40 years of supporting the team. Be positive if that keeps you a fan, but I can not at the moment share your feelings. However, you are entitled to them.
You are happy we kept Sparano because you enjoy mediocrity. Nothing more, nothing less. Enjoy his play not to lose philosophy leading to another losing season, I sure won't.
What really concerns me now is the FA market, both the good ones we have going into FA at seasons end and the good FA that will be on the market. Are THEY going to buy into what now appears to be a lame duck coach ? After the national fiasco that just went on for the last few days, are the good ones on the team willing to stay here or will they look someplace else thats less crazy ? This whole coaching search fiasco is NOT going to just die and fade away. Will the good FA outside the team look at Miami or will they tell their agents to just not deal with Miami. This is going to be a very shaky deal FA wise. May take some extra $$$$$$$$$$ now on the table to keep and or lure good FA to this team. Honest, think abou it.
And paying more than market value hurts your salary cap. And then you go cheap at other positions and have an inconsistent team.
I am not glad if this is true. It's a freaking disaster and once again the Dolphins are a national joke. It's getting pretty damn old. I can only hope against hope that this report is not true.
I am happy we kept Sparano because I enjoy third place finishes [maybe fourth next year, who knows], field goals, an offensive line that is a mess, and watching a team with zero ability to develop a QB. I love this concept that Sparano just now realized these mistakes and is going to fix them. He couldn't fix them over the last two years, now he magically has the ability to do this? His best case scenario probably for QB would be landing Kyle Orton who is far from a sure thing. And now with multiple players openly saying that Sparano coaches them to play scared what impact will this have on free agency? They also have to basically extend him now so he doesn't look like a lame duck coach to any potential FA.
Guy is just an average coach. I would have liked Tony more if he fired Henning instead of backing him up and doing nothing to change the offense. Its quite clear Miami will go no where under Sparano.
I wonder if he had less faith in Lee or anyone else on that staff and just swallowed the Henning pill and hoped for the best.
I'm not overjoyed at the 'keeping' of Sparano .... mainly because HE was not accountable for the derth in coaching and game planning during the season. In that sense alone - he SHOULD have been fired. The ONLY way in my mind he would have been allowed to stay was IF he was directed to stick with Henning by Parcells, I say Parcells - because if it were Ireland, then HE should be fired. All I can say is that someone is culpable for the total lack of coaching, planning and execution on the offensive side of the ball. Add Special Teams to the mix if you like, but at least they did fire him. And that, unless evidence points elsewhere is absolutely on the HC. Regarding Harbaugh ... as soon as Luck announced he was staying - you had to know that there would be a strong possibility that Harbaugh would return to Stanford ... and in think he will -- for a shot at a National Title, and to be honest -- can't really knock the guy for it. Besides, he'll still be around next year - when Sparano really does get fired.
I am not so sure we should jump to conclusions...Unless I missed something, the ESPN report came from Chris Mortensen who was late and frankly wrong on some info earlier in the week. The article posted on ESPN says Ross did in fact talk to the agent when he flew south. I do not think this courtship is over... "Ross resumed the meeting Thursday night with Harbaugh's agent, David Dunn, in Southern California after the Dolphins owner traveled south to satisfy an unrelated business commitment following his meeting with Harbaugh, the sources said." http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5997519 Even then, Luck returning to Stanford worked out rather well as we could possibly do worse than 15th and have a shot at Luck and Harbaugh (if he returns to Stanford...again I am not sure yet). We may certainly do better; I am not too keen on Sparano as our HC nonetheless.
We had two more then qualified, NFL experienced, head coaches (Cowher, Gruden) who wanted the job. After they spoke with Mr. Ross, they both said nevermind. That tells me they both see something that didn't look or feel right. If it was just one of them, I would say maybe he was asking for something that was too unreasonable (like full control). But it was both, and both wanted the job. I think Mr. Ross has just given the team the biggest black eye it has ever seen. There is no way free agents come here with a lame duck coach. IMO, the team will be one of the worst teams next year. Players will not respond to this coaching staff. All the players were silent until they thought Sparano was gone, then you heard many of them rumble. Now that he's back, what are they to do. IMO this is the worst I have ever seen the Dolphins fall. We completely look like idiots. Al Davis is laughing his *** off.
Sparano shouldn't have been retained here's why: O Line guy who can't build an O line. He supported Dan Henning until the end when he was one of our biggest problems. After this fiasco you can almost be certain he has lost most of the players. There will be alot of "I'm not listening to this clown he should have been fired last year like they wanted to and I'm sure he'll be fired this year". He will be the biggest lame duck coach in the history of sports. Also I am ashamed for the first time to be a Dolphins fan. How can anyone be proud of an organization that handles things the way that this was handled. Make me sick to my stomach.
