BAMAPHIN 22
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When Tony Sparano was officially hired on January 16, there were two competing schools of thought that most believed to be true. One was that Sparano fell into a great situation because, as Dan Le Batard wrote, "Sparano will be given the time and patience and perspective that a Dolphins leader never gets. Mathematically, he can't be worse than what we just endured, so just about anything he does early will be viewed as improvement."
The other school of thought was that Sparano was stepping into what was a huge mess. Greg Stoda wrote for the Palm Beach Post:
Because anyone who thinks Sparano has landed in a soft spot is wrong. It'll be all but impossible for the Dolphins to be any worse than they were last season, but Sparano, working for The Great Parcells, will be asked to do something monumentally difficult working with a team with as little talent as Miami has on its roster.Being the pessimist that I used to be (a 1-15 season will do that), I fell more on the side of Stoda's line of thinking, writing, "Tony, despite inheriting a 1-15 team that lacks talent in many areas, hasn't landed in such a safe spot. We need to see progress. We need to see good game management and good play calling. And if we are all as unimpressed with Sparano as we were with Cameron, then this franchise could quite possibly hit an even lower rock bottom."
He'll be asked to prove the Dolphins have promise.
The success will be measured most obviously in wins - four or five is a good guess for next season - but it will be measured most importantly in how effectively the Dolphins are restructured.
http://www.thephinsider.com/2011/6/21/2234490/remember-when-the-miami-dolphins-hired-tony-sparano