Tony Sparano

Full Name:

Birthdate: October 7, 1961

Birthplace: West Haven, CT

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[edit] Biography

Tony Sparano is the head coach for the Miami Dolphins. He was hired officially on January 16, 2008.

Sparano's coaching experience goes back over two decades. He began coaching the University of New Haven, his alma mater (Class of 1982) in 1984, spending four seasons as the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator. He left New Haven for a similar position at Boston University in 1988, where he remained through the 1993 season. In 1993, BU went 11-0.

Sparano returned to New Haven in 1994, where he sered as the head coach until 1998. In 1995 and 1997, Sparano received regional coach of the year honors from two different organizations, and in 1997, New Haven finished second in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

In 1998, Sparano broke into the NFL, as tight ends coach for the Washington Redskins. He then left for the Cleveland Browns, where he held various duties, finally becoming offensive line coach in 2000. In 2001, he joined the Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coaching staff.

In 2002, Sparano joined the Dallas Cowboys as tight ends coach under Bill Parcells. Over the course of the four years following, he ascended up the ladder, and when then-offensive coordinator Sean Payton left for the head coaching job in New Orleans in 2006, he had hoped to follow to become offensive coordinator. But Jerry Jones -- just as he had previously when San Diego and Cleveland had shown interest in making Sparano the OC -- said no.

In 2006, Sparano finally got his promotion, as he was named named assistant head coach for Wade Phillips and the Cowboys. While not offensive coordinator, he nevertheless called the plays in 2006. He lost those job duties in 2007 as the Cowboys hired Jason Garrett to be the offensive coordinator. And with Phillips' contract expiring, he started looking for another job: Baylor University's. Baylor showed no interest.^[1] However, the Baltimore Ravens soon did, as did the Atlanta Falcons. Both teams seemed interested, with Baltimore allegedly finding Sparano's interview to be unbelievably good.^[2] But with Parcells now running football operations for the Dolphins, Miami won out.

Sparano is said to be the opposite of Cam Cameron -- a person familiar and comfortable in working under the tone set by his former bosses: Parcells, Marty Schottenheimer, and Tom Coughlin; a coach who does not outwardly show emotion and instead keeps it in the family.