This is a lost season, as I'm sure all of us have accepted. The best thing right now is to set ourselves up to be in the best position to build this team up for long term success. That being said, with the current losing streak we have going on, Sparano is the right man for the job. I hate to say it, but that 11-5 season really hurt us as far as development went. then 2 7-9 seasons only made things worse. Winning seasons are always great, but not at the cost that we've paid. We need high draft picks to draft elite, franchise players. Its no coincidence the best player on our team was a #1 pick. If we get a top 3 pick, draft a promising qb, that's a left tackle and qb out of the way. theres your foundation. we should be in a better position than we are, but I like to think that Ted Ginn Jr draft just never existed >_< if only we had a time machine...
Again, money talks. And we don't know exactly what happened with Harbaugh. If Ross had actually fired sparano before getting on the plane, perhaps Harbaugbh would be here now.
And to those who say why would anyone want to come here, the prospect of restoring glory to one of the most storied franchises in football is a sweet one. If a coach came here and brought us to the super bowl, he'd be put on a pedestal. If we get Luck, someone will want to be here
But again, Miami doesn't have any more money than say, the New York Giants. But my question wasn't really rhetorical. Reasons why someone would choose a team like the Giants over Miami: -Owner doesn't try to hire a new HC before firing his current HC -Owner doesn't fire HC 4 games into the season
No matter if we get an interim HC or not, the only 2 games I see as winnable on the schedule are KC & Denver. I would hope a 2-14 record puts us in position to draft Luck.
Well, I think Stephen Ross is caught in a Catch 22 right now. He knows what the general feeling about him is after the farce he made this offseason when he interviewed Harbaugh without firing Sparano. If he terminates Sparano now, he knows the media is going to be saying that he never intended on keeping Sparano. If he keeps Sparano, he risks losing even more fans than he has. He's in a no win situation, and I think he is going to try to balance this out. He wants to make it look like either he gave Sparano ample opportunity to turn the season around, or he wants to create a situation where Sparano just quits. I don't think the latter will happen.
I agree. The damage is already done, so Ross might as well save some face and what little integrity he has left after the Harbaugh debacle. Canning Sparano now would likely achieve the same effect as canning Dan Henning did: the mob rejoices and not scoring any points looks somewhat prettier, but the fundamental problems remain. Sparano isn't a particularly great head coach, but this is as much a talent issue as it is a coaching one. There might come a point in the season where you're left with no other option - the whole team calling it quits - but we're not there yet. If Ross fires Sparano today, he might as well throw himself under the bus, too.
While I agree with you, missing Vontae Davis is the direct result of awful coaching and mismanagement of talent. VD should not have been covering punts. It's hard to excuse Sparano's record because of the injury when he was to blame for it, IMHO.
When he was injured during the Houston game, it came covering a punt. At least that's what several reports said post game, and several fans here reported.
How cruel would it be if we ended up with the SECOND pick...? Or even worse, we get Luck, and he turns out to be Leaf. Oy.
If I had to bet, I would say the odds should favor Tony Sparano stepping down of his own free will before Stephen Ross can fire him. And that will give Ross the perfect opportunity to play the good and loyal owner and talk about how much he supported and believed in Tony Sparano until the very end, and how sorry he was to have put Tony through the episode he put him through during the Harbaugh thing. Ben Volin tweeted after the game that two people were visibly more upset than anyone else after the game. Kevin Burnett snapped at a reporter he was so angry, and Jeannette Sparano was "very emotional" which I would assume is code for crying. If his wife's peace of mind is at stake here...Tony could quit. The writing is on the wall. He knows it's a matter of "when" and not "if" anymore. The earlier he frees himself from this job, the better chance he has at lobbying for and securing a good job either in the NFL or more likely, college. It's the Wannstedt thing all over again. History repeats itself. Remember that ultimately it was not Wayne Huizenga that fired Dave Wannstedt, but Dave Wannstedt who stepped down voluntarily so that he could step out and seek his next job which ended up being Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers. Right now I think it's a safe bet that he and his wife are having these conversations, and they may come to a decision during the bye week. Supposedly there were some press conference shenanigans today with a cancellation, etc...it could have something to do with this. The first step would be Tony coming to Stephen Ross and asking if there's some way they could work out a settlement on the contract to where he's free and clear to go coach elsewhere, and he doesn't have to pay back any money.
We've already lost the fans we'll lose at this point anyway. Everyone at this point in time knows we are destined for a painful season. Firing Sparano dosen't bring those fans back though so I agree with many that say just let him seal his own fate and continue to show his ineptness. It dosen't need to be Luck that brings fans back. Winning will bring everyone back regardless of who inspires it.
That right there is a good possibility. It happens all the time. It's why the fans that HOPE for losses simply to draft one person don't make sense to me.
Also think about the supposed blowup right around the Harbaugh episode where Tony Sparano got so pissed off at the "lack of communication" that he very nearly quit on the spot before being given that contract extension. The guy is tired of being jerked around, he's not going to keep dancing for no reason. My guess is Tony's agent is working with Steve Ross on an exit strategy that will address the compensation for getting out of this contract, and if Tony continues on as the Head Coach...it'll be purely out of spite because they don't feel Ross is being fair on the compensation.
Ryan Leaf is the second biggest bust in NFL history. Saying it's a good possibility that Luck turns out like him is improbable. Luck has a considerably better head on his shoulders and is considered the best QB prospect since Peyton Manning and/or John Elway. It's possible that Luck is a bust, but if he's a bust, the financial penalty from him sucking is considerably less than it would be in the days of the old CBA. You can't be scared to take a chance on a guy that's called one of the greatest QB prospects ever. Also, being #1 overall means we get the first pick in every round which should further enhance depth and talent.
It's not "improbable" at all. 1st round talents bust all the time. Not in such a dramatic fashion as Leaf but we're not talking about that. Go ahead and tell me your strategy for picking a can't miss prospect and we can talk. I'm also not saying you don't take the risk of drafting high prospects so I don't have any idea why you are arguing in favor of it. I was just stating that the proposed "we should suck so we can draft the can't miss guy" is a very flawed mind set.
Personally I have been calling for his firing since last season. Now though, I hope he stays throughout the rest of the season. This isn't because I think he will turn things around. In fact I think the best chances the Dolphins have at getting Luck in the draft is to keep Sparano as the head coach this season. I don't think any of the position coaches on the team have done anything with their units to justify Ross promoting any of them. Ross should just consider this a lost season, keep Sparano for the entire season and pray that the one benefit of this season is the first selection in the 2012 draft. Of course Ross also has to make sure Ireland is also fired, because he would likely pass on Luck and take another offensive lineman with the first pick in the draft.
That would be perfect for the team. They might just spiral into a loss against Denver if that were the case. They'll luck into a win no pun intended later in the year but let it be against one of our division rivals or something. Better yet let it be with the Luck race won, they pull an upset against a fading Jets team.
You can as many of you do. It's just not a guarantee of anything. What are the benefits of 2-14 V. 5-11? What if 2-14 isn't good enough for the top pick? Do you actually hope for a winless season ...... which someone has already started a thread on. LMAO. What if you go winless and end up with Heath Shuler? Do you hope for 2 winless seasons in a row? I think the Lions proved that top draft picks don't guarantee anything. Sure they look to finally have ended up getting it right but the languished for decades. Meanwhile teams that were picking middle to late rounds continued to stay competitive and stock a roster full of talent by drafting well where they were at.
That's because you can get the rest of that talent later in the draft. It's very hard to get that type of talent (Jets at five with Sanchez).
Didn't you also say you thought we'd beat Cleveland quite handily? I must have missed your SD prediction though.
Who's to say they don't? We tend to pretend that intentionally tanking a season was some kind of unimaginable no-go, when in reality we have no clue whatsoever if it's actually being done or not. It's not like the owner/executives in question would tell anyone.
Position coaches don't decide the starters. Clemons has had a hamstring injury he's been dealing with. That as much as anything is why Jones ended up starting.
Well, the biggest problem would be the fact that intentionally losing to get a higher draft spot is essentially cheating. But regardless, who would actually want to play for an organization that intentionally wants to lose if things aren't going right? Would you work for a company that would prefer you looked bad?
Haven't you gotten the memo? Apparently, Brian Daboll signed Reggie Bush while Mike Nolan made Burnett an offer he couldn't refuse and Tony Sparano hammered out a contract with Marc Colombo. I'm not quite sure what Jeff Ireland's been up to, though.
I guess it depends if you see the team as lacking in talent or leadership or both. IMO, we are lacking more in leadership. Firing Sparano now could have the same effect as the Cowboys firing Phillips last year. Garrett turned the team around and got the job without the interim included in the title. I'd like to see if Todd Bowles could do the same.
I would hate that, one of these coaches keeping the job wouldn't be exactly the best thing for the franchise.
Funny. I actually did, a while ago. And no, it wasn't fun, but that's because the long-term strategy was to keep "losing". I wouldn't really mind looking bad for a while if there was a purpose to being bad - like getting a whole lot better in the long-run by being bad for a short time. And besides, who's to tell the difference between incompetence and purpose, anyway? To be honest, I'd much rather work for a company that's bad on purpose so it can improve than for one that's bad by habit or accident.
Or more possibly David Carr. He was the sure fire #1 overall, no red flags, gonna be a ten year franchise QB guy. Or maybe more like Tim Couch, another sure fire franchise QB who went #1 overall. People who think drafting Luck is a sure bet for 5-6 Super Bowls in the next ten years are very likely going to be disappointed.
