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Arnsparger Earns Lifetime Achievement Award

Finfan83nj

Finfan83nj

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Arnsparger Earns Lifetime Achievement Award

Longtime Miami Dolphins assistant Bill Arnsparger has been recognized with the 2020 Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman Award
www.si.com www.si.com



This name will ring a bell to the older crowd. Not so much the younger guys like me, I didnt get to watch those 2 seasons. But I do enjoy reading things about our history. Thought I would share.
 
PHINSfan said:
Im one of the older geezers who was around during the early years so of course I remember Bill. His defense was always ahead of its time. Shula, Bill, and Bobby (Bethard) made up the best trio of football minds weve ever had.
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Awesome, wish I could of watched those seasons live. I got into football midway through Marinos career. Do have some fond memories of that era though.
 
Arnsparger was the one coach who I missed the most after he left the Dolphins. He was a genius. I was young when he was coaching the defense for Miami. Those teams were fun to watch, when I actually got to see them. I followed his Coaching career in College out of respect for what did for Shula. He deserves all the accolades he gets. Miami's defense never recovered after he left. It took Jimmy Johnson to build one, several decades after Arnsparger left. I miss that man. Great coach!!!
 
Finfan83nj said:
www.si.com

Arnsparger Earns Lifetime Achievement Award

Longtime Miami Dolphins assistant Bill Arnsparger has been recognized with the 2020 Paul "Dr. Z" Zimmerman Award
www.si.com www.si.com



This name will ring a bell to the older crowd. Not so much the younger guys like me, I didnt get to watch those 2 seasons. But I do enjoy reading things about our history. Thought I would share.
Click to expand...

The younger crowd should know, Bill Arnsparger invented the 3-4 defense, which I think was originally named the "53 defense" (I could have the number wrong, can't recall) because Bob Matheson wore that number, and when they brought in an extra LB and took out a DL, that was unheard of at the time. Also, Arnsparger routinely built complex defenses where guys played mistake-free ball and dominated despite not being as good athletically as their opponents.

There is one very direct corollary of Bill Arnsparger in today's NFL, and his name is Bill Belichick.
 
I find it amazing that he was able to come back to the NFL all of those years later and help get the Stan Humphries led Chargers to the SB in 1994 (yeah, we should have won that game). Another great coach who spanned multiple decades.
 
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