Miami Dolphins coach Sparano has gained an understanding among his players

So do I, Sparano demands the best out of each player and they give it to him. It takes a lot of balls to come into an NFL practice as a rookie head coach and bark out orders and act like you've been there before. I think that's why the players respect him, he laid down the law day one and wasn't intimidated.

 

I also love our coach.
And it's been a long time since I could say that.

 

My favorite part:

I told the folks in Survivor the Ronnie voters were coming over to the dark side, that Sparano has cookies. See, this proves it!

On a more serious note, I love this guy, I wouldn't trade him for ANY other HC in the NFL. He's smart, funny, serious, he will NEVER be out-worked, and he cares not only about the team, winning, and all that, but he genuinely cares about his players. And they feel the same way, these guys will go to war with and for Tony Sparano every Sunday.

 

For this, Coach Sparano is blue collar. He worked for everything he got, the guy started out as an offensive line coach at New Haven University wherever that is. He's the working mans coach.

 

Thanks Fins1.. that was a nice read.. new stuff even.. to me anyway.. that's hard to come by this time of year.. I love the guy, and especially loved it when he said this;

we don't want to just win.. we want to dominate..

my kind of coach.

 

Me too.

This is the first coach that seems to want to get back to the O lines that the Fins had in the 70's.

We always had such great O line play and that allowed us to to always play a physical brand of football.

Ever since the draft of Webb and Sims it seems like O lineman have been an afterthought.

 

In the mutual respect phase, he does indeed remind me some of Shula. There is little doubt the players listen when he talks.

Perhaps the most exciting part is he is still very young in his coaching career. If he can continue on in his learning and evolving as a head-coach, perhaps there will be more similarities with Mr Shula

 

I think you make a good point on learning that is overlooked Kenny.. he's pretty darned smart and I think we can expect HIM to be better this year too, just like a second year player.

 

He even said so in an interview I caught a snip of on NFLN last night. Something to the effect of things are more organized this year, IIRC.

Great for us, scary for other teams!

And since he is early in his career, he has a lot of years in front of him, hopefully all here. Didn't Shula spend 26 years here? Can you imagine the Sparano era being like that?

 

I don't think you will ever see another head coach with the lonegevity of Shula.

It was a different time when Shula became a coach. There was no salary cap. No free agency as we know it. Players had other jobs in the offseason. It was not nearly the year round grind that it is today.

 

Aw, common!
let the man dream a bit, will ya?

 

Yeah, us women too!
He's the only coach I've had any respect for since Shula.

 

Yeah, but on on the other hand I think you and I both know Sparano won't be here for 20+ years. Jeff Fisher still needs another five years before he reaches 20 and it already seems like he's been with the Titans forever. Now a days in the NFL a coach is lucky to last three years. You can win a Superbowl and five years later get fired(Billick, Gruden.) It's a tough league.

 

Yea, I know, but hey - it's a nice fantasy, don't you think? Unlike keeping the last few coaches around for a long time, which is evil incarnate...

 

The Dolphin players like Sparano, they have an understanding, but better yet, they respect him.
The players haven't had too many coaches in recent memory that were worthy of their respect. Most of the coaches, like Cameron, were not close with the players such as Shula and Sparano.