Stephen Ross: Sparano couldn't put Harbaugh courting behind him
Now that the Dolphins have had a strong offseason, Stephen Ross is comfortable blaming his team's misfortunes on Tony Sparano.
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Before the 2011 season, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross showed his desperation for a new coach by completely emasculating Tony Sparano and flying to California to court then-Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh, of course, took the 49ers job. And though Sparano kept the Miami position for less than another season, the lame-duck coach understandably was not pleased that his owner went behind his back to try to hire another coach.
But now that the Dolphins have had a strong offseason, Ross is comfortable telling people that Sparano is the reason the team has been less than impressive recently.
“He could never put it behind him,” Ross told 790 The Ticket on Friday (via the Miami Herald). “I don’t think he was the right head coach for the Miami Dolphins. I didn’t hire him. We’re a much better organization today than then.”
Um, OK. So Ross seriously can’t understand why Sparano would be upset that Ross undermined him for the entire next season by trying to hire somebody else?
What about the reign of general manager Jeff Ireland, which hasn’t exactly netted the Dolphins much respect?
“This organization is functioning the best since the [Don] Shula days, [because] I picked the head coach with Jeff Ireland,” Ross said. “People see this organization is really on the uptick. … People wanted to blame our losing on somebody, and he was the easy person to blame it on. I believe in Jeff, and you’re seeing today what Jeff Ireland can really do.”
Look, the Dolphins have had a fantastic offseason, adding receiver Mike Wallace, tight end Dustin Keller and cornerback Brent Grimes. But to blame the team’s recent misfortunes solely on the former head coach is ludicrous -- especially since Sparano was the head coach when the team most recently went to the playoffs, in 2008.
The reason that Ross’ coach was paranoid in 2011 was because Ross went after Harbaugh. Ross was the reason for Sparano’s discontent. To pretend otherwise shows a lack of self-awareness on Ross’ part.
And let’s not forget that after the Harbaugh hire fell through, Ross gave Sparano a two-year (!) extension.
If somehow the Dolphins don’t make the postseason this year and Ross decides to fire Ireland, I’ll be interested to hear how all of this was Ireland’s fault through the eyes of Ross.
