Get Ready: Sparano is not a lock to be fired

[Brian Fein]

You're fooling yourself if you think he is.

I foresee a situation where he wins enough games to save his job, and our spineless ownership decides to do nothing.

However, as I see it, it might not be a terrible move.  A coach that has his players behind him is a good thing, and to take an 0-7 team and win a chunk of remaining games shows ability, IMO.  Conversely, the Colts were 0-7 and the team quit on the season.  I don't see the players rallying around Jim Caldwell.

So, it wouldn't surprise me if Sparano stays around for 2012.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Lets say he does run the table.  Doesn't that mean he is a good enough coach to take a team that by any objective measure should have lost all hope and turn them around?  Isn't that what you want in a coach? 

[jtex316]

^ I hear you on all points. And there definitely is something to be said about a team that rallies around a coach, especially after going 0-7 (The Colts have totally quit, no question).

But (there is always a "but"), you (you being an NFL owner) can't accept a player's coach and a never-say-die attitude in lieu of mediocrity. Going 0-7 to start the year and the completely pathetic home-loss records and losing 10 straight going back to last year and all of the stuff pre-3-game winning streak can't be brushed aside after a few game winning streak.

A coach can't just barely squeak by each year and do just enough to not be fired because the players never quit on him - that's simply not enough. The Dolphins realistically can finish about 6-10 or 5-11 this year, as they are about to start facing some division-winners (don't say the Chiefs were also division-winners, because they are clearly a joke).

But if mediocrity is good enough, then Sparano will coach next season.

[Brian Fein]

Here's the thing -

The coach is a piece of the equation, not the whole answer.  There's two schools of thought -

a) you take a team with 3-13 talent and go 8-8

b) you take a team with 12-4 talent and go 8-8

The way the Dolphins were playing weeks 1-8, they looked like a 3-13 team, so a coach that pushes that to "mediocre" is good to have.

However, if the talent on the field is that of a 12-4 team, and the coach (game plan, preparation, decisions, etc) causes them to lose "should have won" games, then sure fire him.  They way they are playing now, they seem to be a casualty of the lockout, with the shortened camp and a team in transition.

I'm just saying that, the way this team operates, its not a LOCK that he's fired. 

I think it says a lot that the team didn't quit, they kept on pushing, through all the adversity, Suck for Luck, media hounding and negativity that comes with 0-7.  THAT's coaching, and that's what I want for the future.

Notice - no one's talking about red zone struggles anymore.  No one's talking about blown 4th quarter leads anymore.  No one is talking about Sparano's house for sale.

Maybe Henne was the problem all along.  They seem to be playing better without him.  Who knows?

Just keep that possibility in your mind that Tony Sparano will coach the Miami Dolphins in 2012.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

, you  can't accept a player's coach and a never-say-die attitude in lieu of mediocrity.

I think in the history of the internet you are the first person to have ever referred to Sparano as a "player's coach".  

Going 0-7 to start the year and the completely pathetic home-loss records and losing 10 straight going back to last year and all of the stuff pre-3-game winning streak can't be brushed aside after a few game winning streak.

A coach can't just barely squeak by each year and do just enough to not be fired because the players never quit on him - that's simply not enough. The Dolphins realistically can finish about 6-10 or 5-11 this year, as they are about to start facing some division-winners (don't say the Chiefs were also division-winners, because they are clearly a joke).

But if mediocrity is good enough, then Sparano will coach next season.

Here is my though...Some people improve with experience.  Heck a lot of people do.  

Bill Belichick isn't going to get into the HoF on his Cleveland days.

Maybe Sparano was a bad coach and then with experience got better.  Just like Moore is playing better this year than he did in Carolina.  Some people learn from their mistakes.  If Tony has just completed an on the job training program to learn how to be a head coach, be stupid to get rid of him once he finally mastered that skill.

[CF DolFan]

Isn't the general opinion that Ireland was more in need of being released than Sparano? I could be wrong but I felt most did not like Ireland and that Sparano was more a victim of the record.

[Phishfan]

I think in the history of the internet you are the first person to have ever referred to Sparano as a "player's coach".  

It is said all the time. The story has been how the players were rallying around him, supporting him, and not giving up. I'll chalk it up to not being a Dolphins fan and let you slide.

[fyo]

I think in the history of the internet you are the first person to have ever referred to Sparano as a "player's coach".

I thought that was the general consensus...

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

It is said all the time. The story has been how the players were rallying around him, supporting him, and not giving up. I'll chalk it up to not being a Dolphins fan and let you slide.

Granted I don't follow the Dolphin news much...but last time I heard about his relationship with players he had placed 2nd on the list of coaches players didn't want to play for.

http://www.thedolphinsmakemecry.com/forums/index.php/topic,19392.0.html

My point is to the best of my knowldge hid demeanor with is players is one of being an hardass and dispite the players are rally around him even though many of them may not personally like him.  Much the way the Giants did in '07.  The players didn't like Caughlin then, just like they don't like him now.  But they give 100% when he demanded it even when they were 0-2 or later in the season when everyone had them writen off.  That doesn't make him a "players coach."  It makes him a coach with the players respect.  BB isn't a player's coach either. 

Rex Ryan is a player's coach. 

[EKnight]

How is Rex Ryan a players' coach? He throws his players under the bus when they lose. He makes ridiculous claims that THEY have to then try to live up to. While they all go out and bust ass in training camp and throughout the season, he gets lap-band surgery to lose weight, taking the easy way out. I'm not following the logic at all here. -EK

Edit- incidently, Ryan finished fifth in that same poll, so clearly he's not THAT much of a players coach.

[Frimp]

I think that survey about coached players didnt want to play for had more to do with the record.

[Landshark]

It would take a playoff appearance along with a deep run in the playoffs for Sparano to have a job next year.  Just the way I see it. 

And don't get your hopes up about this three game win streak either.  It came against the cream of the crap teams in the NFL.

[Brian Fein]

It would take a playoff appearance along with a deep run in the playoffs for Sparano to have a job next year.  Just the way I see it. 

And don't get your hopes up about this three game win streak either.  It came against the cream of the crap teams in the NFL.

Maybe so, but they creamed those teams.  They are playing well.

[Spider-Dan]

I think that survey about coached players didnt want to play for had more to do with the record.

Coughlin and Belichick were #1 and #3, so I don't think that theory holds up.

As for Rex Ryan's position on the survey, he was right behind Jim Harbaugh and right ahead of Jim Schwartz, and none of them had more than 6 votes (out of 111 players surveyed).  I think that's more of the "statistical noise" range.

[Frimp]

I meant as far as Sparano was concerned.