The Miami Dolphins, headed for their third consecutive losing season under head coach Tony Sparano, after enjoying an improbable turnaround from a dismal 1-15 record in 2007 to a division-winning 11-5 in his first season after being hiring by Bill Parcells, have just fired Sparano. Apparently, this coach, who showed plenty of sideline enthusiasm, just couldn't keep his team together as a tight unit throughout games and over the course of a season. I thought the move was correct: there was no sign that the Dolphins' fortunes stood to change with Sparano in there. But the owner Stephen Ross, with the firing, stated that he wanted a young "Don Shula-type" to coach the team. Well, duh, doesn't everybody? After all, Shula is one of a kind: the all-time winningest coach in NFL history, with only 2 losing seasons in 26 while coaching Miami from 1970 through 1995. From 1996 through 2003, Shula's successors Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt (at least until 2004), managed to produce moderately successful seasons, none of them with a losing record. But in the last 8 years, Miami has suffered through 6 losing seasons. Enough is enough.
There are plenty of good coaching prospects out there, and Miami is an attractive place in which to work. Hopefully, the new coach, who will start his job after the end of the season, will fulfill owner Ross's vision at least to the point of establishing a more long-term, consistently winning team. But another Don Shula? Forget it!
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