Sparano met with owner Stephen Ross a few days ago to discuss his future with the Miami Dolphins, and I figured that Ross would come out of that meeting confident with Tony and his abilities and ready to worry about things other than the Miami's Head-Coaching position. I was wrong, though, as now it is looking highly unlikely that Tony Sparano will keep his job.
So, let us assume that Miami is going to fire Tony Sparano in the near future. The two names that I have been consistently hearing as his replacement are current Stanford Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and retired, but Super Bowl winning, coach Bill Cowher.
The harder coach to get is probably going to be Jim Harbaugh because of the huge amount of demand there is for him. There is a strong possibility that the San Francisco 49ers will hire him because he currently lives in that area, but the Dolphins have begun to emerge more and more as strong candidates at hiring him.
Whoever Harbaugh goes with, though, will have to pay him a very large salary. He is reportedly looking for at least $6 million, and that number could easily rise about $7 million if Miami and San Francisco get into a bidding war. I am confident that the Dolphins would be able to get Harbaugh if it comes down to just a bidding war, though, because Stephen Ross seems pretty determined to get Harbaugh after the huge success he has had with Stanford in recent years.
Also, I am not saying that this will happen, because it is very likely that it would never happen, but if Miami does end up hiring Harbaugh, then he may convince them to trade up for the first-overall draft pick in order to draft QB Andrew Luck. I know that such a thing would probably only happen in my fantasyland, but one can always hope to be that lucky.
There is also Bill Cowher, who was receiving a lot more attention than Harbaugh last week and would be a great choice for Head Coach in Miami.
Cowher's interest in the Dolphins job has wavered a little bit because of the fact that he wants to be able to bring in the staff of his choice, but Miami has been insistent in keeping Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan and General Manager Jeff Ireland. I think that they would be able to work something out if it came down to keeping Nolan and Ireland, but it could still pose a problem if Cowher has competing offers from other teams.
Cowher has a great coaching resume with 15 years of experience as a Head Coach, a Super Bowl ring, and a .623 career winning percentage. He knows how to win, so I wouldn't be disappointed at all if he came to the Dolphins.
Now that you guys have a brief overview on two potential candidates for the Head-Coaching job, let me take a minute to talk about the poor guy who has to sit and wait to see if he will keep his job for next year: Tony Sparano.
I have never really doubted Sparano until yesterday when I read what Ricky Williams had to say during a radio interview about Tony Sparano's style as a head coach. According to Ricky, Sparano likes to micromanage a lot and makes the game a lot less fun. Ricky had a lot of criticism to say about Sparano during the interview, and I just can't help but take notice.
Ricky is normally a very reserved player who doesn't insult people on his team much, so him saying those things about Tony means a lot about how he coaches.
Plus, Jason Taylor recently backed up what Ricky said during his own radio interview. I know that a lot of us don't really like Taylor after he left Miami for the New York Jets, but we still have to respect his opinion because of his experience in the NFL. Jason Taylor knows what he is talking about, so hearing him and Ricky Williams (with their combined 24 years of experience in the NFL) complaining about Tony Sparano's style makes me wonder whether I want him coaching the Dolphins.
I highly doubt that it will take longer than a day to find out what is going to happen with Miami's coaching situation, so be sure to stay tuned for whatever breaking news comes across.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment.
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