NFL: Miami Dolphins offer Tony Sparano contract extension
The Miami Dolphins wish to extend Tony Sparano’s contract by one year through 2012 but sources say that there are some hardships going on after the team tried to acquire Jim Harbaugh in place of Sparano.
Team owner Stephen Ross had flown especially out to San Francisco to meet with Harbaugh in his private jet but broke off talks later on Thursday.
In the end, Harbaugh agreed to sign with the San Francisco 49ers.
A news conference was scheduled for Friday to announce Sparano’s retention but was postponed until Saturday for unknown reasons.
However, one just have to admire Sparano’s commitment. While Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland flew to California to woo Harbaugh, Sparano continued to report to work every day and act as though nothing was wrong even though he was distraught about the
possibility of losing his job.
Obviously, Sparano would have hard feelings about the higher ups. They decided to just go with Sparano because they could not get Harbaugh. It must make him feel like a backup which might even affect his decision to take a contract extension for 2012.
The Dolphins started the season out with a poor preseason but still had Super Bowl aspirations. Their regular season started out well with a chance of winning the division but after losing their last three games, they finished 7-9.
Their last game of the season was lost 38-7 at the hands of the merciless New England Patriots. Losing to the Pats makes sense but before that, they lost to the 6-10 Detroit Lions and before that to the 4-12 Buffalo Bills. Yes, the 4-12 Bills. The late season
decline caused many to question Sparano’s chances of coming back to coach but it seems that Ross figured if they can’t have Harbaugh, they might as well keep Sparano.
Sparano led the Dolphins to the playoffs only once back in 2008 in his first year as a coach in the National Football League. Over the past three years, he has won 25 games and lost 23.
The news conference scheduled to discuss the details about the new head coach is to take place sometime on Saturday afternoon.
Stay tuned!
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