The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2011/12/12/2631121/tony-sparano-fired-miami-dolphins

https://twitter.com/#!/JayGlazer/status/146328599853666304

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/12/dolphins-fire-tony-sparano/


4:15 (est) Press Conference upcoming. 


Todd Bowles is believed to be named interim HC

If Sparano was going to be fired regardless of performance the rest of the season, I like that he was fired now. That avoids any uncertainty and outside pressure if the team did well down the stretch.

It's just a shame this didn't happen 10 months ago. Chalk this up as another learning experience for the owner. It would appear Ross was simply waiting for Miami to be officially eliminated from the playoffs.  I guess that makes some sense.

He needed to act now.  With other teams cutting their owners, Miami needs an opening, in order to talk to the big dogs to fill it.

Agreed, should have happened a long time ago. Now if Ireland is clipped, I'll do a jiggy.

Ireland was at Ross's side.....I just hope he doesn't try to pry someone from Dallas (Ryan) once again.

It has begun.

If true about promoting Bowles, that's good news. Promoting a minority to interim is good because it saves time with the "ROONEY RULE." Miami has these last 3 weeks to sit and interview Bowles at anytime. Meaning the first day after the season if they want set up a time and  interview an assistant who's playoff team is on a BYE week (GB or NO offensive coordinators are hot prospects) they can and hire that person in short order without it being a mess or breaking any rules.

It's the same reason KC made Romeo their interim coach. So if we make Bowels the interim coach, it makes perfect sense.

Sparano had to go. Should have just fired him last January. I think Tony is a good guy, but not an NFL head coach. In fact he downright sucked. Got lucky Pennington fell in his lap in 2008 when the Jets added Favre and got more lucky Pennington didn't get hurt in 2008. That is the ONLY reason Sparano had even 1 decent year in Miami.


Mort just reported the Fins will hire Carl Peterson  in an "advisory" role withing the Dolphins organization. Not surprising.

The Carl Peterson reports are false according to both Peterson and Ross.  Ireland will be in charge of finding the next head coach.

Anyone who was wanting to see Ireland go is gonna be disappointed.  Ross practically promoted Ireland today.

Mort is all over the map with this Peterson stuff. He debunked his own report within 20 min! LOL


Sounds like Peterson won't have the Parcells role but will have a small role of just giving input

Nothing matters, this team isn't going to do anything as long as Ireland has any say and Ross is still signing the checks

Yeah but they kept Jeff Ireland.  It does no good to lop off the head of the wart.  You have to kill the root.   

Exactly. What "high profile" head coach is going to sign up for this? Only if they are looking to expand their retirement portfolio. Sad thing is, I don't even have a clue who I would want to be the next head coach.

+1

you people are never effin happy. 

meaning?..

everyone wanted Sparano fired.  You got your wish.

Now everyone has turned their sniper rifle to Ireland.  Now every post on this message board is going to be "if we had a capable GM..." and "I can't wait for that assclown Ireland to hit the road..."

Its exactly how it sounds.  People who complain will always whine and bitch about something.  Never happy, never satisfied.

I can't kill Ross for keeping Irleand right now. Because I don't know what picks Ireland made. IF it was Parcells that decided to take Long over Ryan then draft Henne in Rd 2. AND then draft Pat White in Rd 2,.... then Ireland is off the hook and I have little problem with him staying. Because lets be honest those moves have been the HUGE blunders in recent years. Yeah trading down and passing on Earl Thomas to get Odrick and Misi was a bad move. But not so bad. Long over Ryan and then taking Pat White...those are Royal F' Up's you can't excuse!

If Ireland truly had "no say" in those moves, I have no problem with him staying. Especially since I think he hit a HOME RUN in last years draft. Pouncey, Thomas, Clay, and Gates.

Now, if drafting Pat White and if taking Long over Ryan were Ireland's call.....then he has to go! No two ways about it. He has to go.

Problem is we don't know what happened those years with those drafts and probably never will. Which is why for me its tough to kill Ireland right now. Not enough information.

Pretty sure my caption under my icon says "F-Ireland,"  but you're right..totally wanted Ireland to stay all along.

I've also said that Ireland deserves more of the blame that Sparano does..on more than one occasion, but hey man..welcome to losing, fans ARE going to "bitch and moan" until they're winning..it's not exactly rocket science.  Wins = Happy Fans.  What am I missing?  Being content with being mediocre?  Oh wait, that's the Dolphin way right?   "Almost there since 1974..." right?



Mike-O...how the hell is Gates a home run? 

I don't understand how a guy who you say "hit a home run in last year's draft" should go no matter what.  Clearly you undervalue an all-pro left tackle if you consider Jake Long to be a draft bust. 

Just because you have a hard-on for a QB doesn't make Jake Long over Matt Ryan a bad pick.

I truly think Pat White was Dan Henning's wet dream.  That was an abomination.

Never effin happy?  Excuse me?

ZERO Super Bowl wins in almost 4 Decades!

Sparano was a Terrible HC...period....he had to go.  As fans, we have every right to complain and this bumbling idiot made it even worse....he got his money and helped to tank this franchise for the last 3 seasons.

^^^ THIS, right there

I'm just happy he's gone.  It was only a matter of time until he was fired, and now that the team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, it's as good a time for it to happen now as as any.

Now the team can focus on the future.  The 2012 campaign starts now.

What the hell are you talking about?

Virtually everyone that was asking for Sparano to be fired wanted Ireland gone as a package deal... particularly since the top-tier coaching candidates (Cowher and Gruden) will want to bring in their own GM anyway.  Seriously, can you find any posts from anyone who said, "I want Sparano fired... but that guy Ireland, we need to keep him around!"

 I didn't say Gates was a home run, I said I think the DRAFT CLASS might turn out to be a home run. I think Gates has a lot of potential long-term. For a 3rd round pick I like him alot going forward. And Clay and Thomas when healthy played very well. And Pouncey did outstanding starting as a rookie center. That's all I said

I didn't say he should go no matter what  ::)

I might be the only guy somewhat defending Ireland here, read what I wrote


So now Dan Henning was making draft selections? And Jake Long over Matt Ryan is a bad pick, I'm sorry. That doesn't mean Long is a bad player but passing on a franchise QB for a LT is dumb. No team has ever won a Super Bowl because of a left tackle carrying a team. I'm not gonna tell you Matt Ryan is Joe Montana, but Ryan is in the playoffs every year, was a #1 seed last year, he is a young franchise QB. To pass on that for a LT was terrible. WHOEVER made that call as well as the Pat White call, is terrible. IF it was Ireland, he needs to go . If it wasn't Ireland, then I have no problem with him staying.

This kind of argument is redundant...yes Matt Ryan is a franchise QB but only because of the team he was drafted into, there is a possibility that drafted into the Dolphins and suffering multiple sacks a game behind an O Line which couldn't run or pass block and with no talent to throw to would have seen him become a career backup like so many that have gone before him.

Picks are not made with ANY certainty, which is why I hate this "we didn't draft so and so and they became a pro-bowler" argument, everything pans out differently as soon as you change history.

Ryan was drafted by Atlanta. Who was picking 3rd that year and almost as bad as Miami. They were a bad team and a bad franchise. He didn't go to a playoff team.

Pure and simple, Ireland needs to be fired as well, IF he is responsible for some of the player moves that we have seen over the last 4 years and mentioned in this thread.

Let's not forget about the whole Dez "Is your Mom a prostitute" Bryant fiasco.  Not that I'm saying the Phins missed on not drafting him, but how Ireland handled himself looked really bad and are these the actions as someone you want handling MIA personnel moves?  Come on.

Also, is Ireland responsible for bringing over some of these Cowboy rejects, specifically Olshansky and Columbo? Columbo is like a swinging door at RT.  Gave up 2 sacks this past weekend against PHI and on the one replay, the DE made him look silly with an inside move.

Yes, MIA has played well the last 5-6 weeks, but when you go back and look at their wins (BUF, WAS, KC, OAK), you see teams that are either poor or on the decline.  And the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving?  I believe they are pretenders.

fair enough, I thought you meant each player was a HR, my bad

Sparano had to go, but I feel for the guy.  Seems like a good enough guy and the players did seem to like him for the most part.  And he kept the team from rolling over and quitting during the worst part of the season so there is a lot to be said for that.  But I think he was in over his head with being a head coach.  Like most of you said, would have been nice to see Ireland go too.   Hopefully firing the coach with 3 games left will give management a head start on the other teams when it comes to recruiting a new coach. 

Ireland needs to go because of the continuation of The Dallas Philosophy that started when Jimmie Johnson was the coach. He was brought in by Parcels. Who left "quietly" last year. The owner can't quit. Its obvious that wants style over substance. Ireland will not go against that. Ross isn't as bad as Jerry Jones, but they keep bringing over the Dallas rejects. All of us have ideas on how to make the team better. But none of us own the team. Still, Ireland needs to go.

Good Luck on finding a new coach Dolphin Fans.

Thanks!  ;D

I wasn't 100% that Sparano should have been fired.  I thought 2009 and 2010 we were hamstrung by shitty playcalling and an inconsistant defense.  Daboll shows up, and yeah we got off to a slow start and yeah he called a bad game Sunday but the team was starting to score points even with a career backup.  The defense which was strong last year got off to a terrible start and now they're playing better. 

I don't have any confidence in Jeff Ireland.  It seems like for every guy we draft who is good, we have 4 more that are gone quickly.

I also don't think it helped that Parcells walked as soon as the new owner came in.

I thought Luck was the coverted QB, not coach. ??? 

By the way welcome to the boards. 

The reason Sparano was fired had nothing to do with football and everything to do with fan and media pressure.  Ross was right in his press conference saying that he had to get rid of the distractions surrounding the team to give us a chance to move forward.  He simply couldn't keep Sparano because every second of every day the discussion was about Sparano being on the hot seat and it would have continued.  This was the only way to give the team the chance to move forward without the HC job being in constant question.

Sparano was building something good and it just took too long.  I only think he was a step or two away from what he was trying to do.  Henning, Henne, O-line change over and the short offseason with a new OC was just too much to overcome.

That is the problem with rebuilding a team.  If you send everybody packing, you better be in a position to survive the difficult times while you fit the pieces together to get were you need to get.  I give Sparano some credit, he looked ahead and saw that the only way to beat out the Patriots was to start over.  In the mean time he tried to survive with a rehash QB and new concept like the wildcat.  They gave the company line of "we are trying to win now", but it is obvious it was just to keep the players motivated.

I realize that Ireland hasn't been perfect.  He has missed on some players and released some players unnecessarily.  But overall he is doing pretty good.  I don't see how we are going to do much better.  Please fellow Dolphins fans, don't be idiots and drive the guy out of town just because we haven't won.  It takes a lot to win in this league and historically it takes even more to win in our division.  You have to realize that their #1 goal is to win our division on a consistant basis.  It is a tall order that takes building from the ground up and takes time.  We don't need another rebuild!

Seriously? You believe that?

That was part of it, but that hasn't changed since September so it certainly didn't prompt Ross to fire him this week.

Sparano had the reputation coming to Miami as an offensive line guru, he's had 4 years working on the O-line, used two first-round draft picks on offensive lineman and the offensive line is still a mess. Face it. Sparano failed big time. He has no one to blame but himself.

Pappy,

1 - I absolutely believe it.  There is no way that I can believe any of Ross' "consultants" said that firing Sparano was the best thing for the team other than in the area of distractions and short term ticket sales.  Now we are in prayer mode that we can bring in a decent head coach that is willing to not dismantle the team.

2 - I wasn't referencing the timing of it.  The reason Tony got fired NOW, was to get a jump on his replacement. 

3 - Long = great, Incognito = good enough, Pouncey = good, Carey = good at right guard but took a little while.  So the only issues that haven't been fixed are the right tackle which I believe was supposed to be fixed by Murtha and O-line depth which we have in every area except tackle.  Jerry came in out of shape and forced the issue with Carey, How is that Sparano's fault?

See the forest through the trees people.

And it ONLY took 2 1st round draft choices, a couple more in the later rounds and several free agent acquisitions and we STILL need a right tackle.  I got news for you, that's HORRIBLE for an o-line guru. Most teams manage that without spending a single 1st round draft pick on an offensive lineman.

I see it just fine. It's easier to see when you take off the rose colored glasses.

I really don't think the offensive line is as bad as everyone says it is.  the bad part of the offensive line was moving Vernon Carey to RG TO OPEN UP room for Marc Colombo at RT.  This was a move that was solely done because of the Sparano/Ireland boner for their Dallas Cowboys days.  Anyone with a brain would take Carey over Colombo.  Carey was a team player and said he'll make the move to RG, and is now starting to play damn good football at the position.  Outside of Colombo being a waste of money and space..and frankly, life..other problems with the O-Line would probably be depth..It's pretty clear how valuable Jake Long is after he went down against the Eagles...

Carey wasn't Sparano's choice..see my above rant as to why we have a glaring hole at Right Tackle

^^^ He wasn't referring to Carey (who was also a first round choice) I don't think. He was referring to Long & Pouncey.

You don't get it. It's not that the offensive is line is that bad, it's that it's taken a supposed offensive line guru who's spent several draft choices on lineman, several more failed free agent acquisitions and 4 years to get to this point.  With that much effort placed on the offensive line Miami's should be one of the best in football today if not the best.

Ahh, got it.



Missed the point lol fair enough, I agree

The Rams chose a franchise LT (Pace) over a franchise QB.  Seemed to work pretty well for them.

In any case, Ryan was far from a sure thing as a franchise QB at the draft, which is why he went third instead of second.  Long was a virtual lock to be a franchise player, and he has performed as advertised.

So Ryan has been to the playoffs (and been bounced in his first game) two times in three years, which means that he is in the playoffs "every year."  Meanwhile, Long has been to the playoffs (and been bounced in his first game) one time in three years, which is totally different.  I mean, Ryan has been there TWICE, while Long has been there ONLY ONCE!

100% wrong. 7-9. 7-9, and this year was 4-8 with the four wins over garbage teams like KC, Washington, Oakland, and Buffalo.

Sparano was totally fired because of football and not winning. You think Ross wants to pay him the last 3 years on his contract? You think Ross likes handing out free money? Please.

If Sparano would have won this year, he would have stayed. Period. It's a results oriented league. When you DON'T win and don't produce results for 3 god damn years, you get fired! Hell, Todd Haley won the AFC West last year, lost his star RB, his QB, and about 5 other key guys to injuries and he was fired too. Sparano got a lot more time than most coaches get in this league.