Things couldn't have gone much better for Head Coach Tony Sparano during his rookie year as an NFL head coach in 2008 as he helped engineer the greatest single-season turnaround in league history for a team that finished the previous year at 1-15.
Now he gets to deal with the higher level of expectations that comes with going 11-5 and winning the franchise's first AFC East crown since 2000. Fortunately for Sparano, he has virtually the same exact coaching staff behind him, with the only two changes at offensive line coach, where Dave DeGuglielmo replaced Mike Maser, and at assistant special teams coach, where Darren Rizzi replaced Steve Hoffman.
That continuity has helped the Dolphins players heading into Sunday's regular-season opener against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome as the ones who returned are familiar with Sparano's style and those of offensive coordinator Dan Henning and defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni. The same can be said for the position coaches, which is why Sparano sees a completely different comfort level now than he saw at this same time a year ago.
"I personally think it's night and day," Sparano said. "The coaching staff that I put together, it takes a little bit of getting used to because they're demanding, and that's the way I wanted it when we put it together. I wanted guys that are good teachers but that demand and hold their players accountable; guys that weren't afraid of confrontation if necessary, any of those things.
"So sometimes that takes getting used to, and as we talk as a team here you can't really have thin skin to be a Miami Dolphin player, you just can't. You can't have thin skin to be a Miami Dolphin coach, so I think that we're so far beyond that now. Our players understand what it is that we're looking for; they understand what kind of work we're trying to get out of them and the reasons why."
