Tony Sparano: Oakland Raiders Coaching Profile
The Oakland Raiders have had since Week Four of this season to start doing background work on potential head coaching candidates. It’s still early in the process, but about six or seven names have been linked to the job thus far.
The first of those candidates is the man who held the position for the final 11 weeks of the season, and someone who has made it well known that he wants the job, Tony Sparano.
Sparano has been coaching in some capacity since 1984, mostly as an offensive line coach, which is the job he was hired to do for Oakland in 2013.
Sparano does have some head coaching experience, which judging by the list of candidates Mark Davis and Reggie McKenzie are set to interview, is something they value highly this time around.
In 2008, Sparano was hired by Bill Parcells to take over the Miami Dolphins, a team Cam Cameron led to a 1-15 record the previous season. Sparano was an assistant under Parcells when he was coaching the Dallas Cowboys.
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Sparano’s tenure as head coach got off to a slow start, losing the first two games. Things would turn around from there, thanks to the introduction of the “Wildcat Offense”.
In Week Three versus the New England Patriots, the Wildcat was introduced to the NFL in a big way. The Dolphins used the formation just six times in the game, but it produced four touchdowns (three rushing and one passing), leading to a 38-13 upset victory.
The Wildcat was fresh and innovative, and it helped propel the Dolphins to an improbable 11-5 season. This was (and still is) the greatest single-season turnaround in NFL history, going from 1-15 the prior season to 11-5 in Sparano’s first season as head coach.
That would be the peak of Sparano’s tenure as head coach. Sparano’s teams followed with consecutive 7-9 seasons, and then the team was 4-9 to start his fourth season when he was fired.
Sparano’s next job came the following season, as offensive coordinator of the New York Jets. Sparano would last just one season in this position, as his offense finished 30th out of 32nd in the NFL.
His next stop would be as the Raiders’ offensive line coach, and fast forwarding to his time as interim head coach, Sparano has had some ups and downs.
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The team did improve under Sparano, finishing statistically better in 28 of 32 possible categories, finishing with a record of 3-8.
The important thing to consider with Sparano is yes, the team did improve, but they improved from the worst team in football. The only direction the team could go was up. Being ranked last in nearly every category under Allen, there wasn’t much worse the team could have performed.
Perhaps just as important as any statistical improvement the team saw under Sparano is the fact that the team simply responded to him better.
It’s evident in all of the post-game interviews with the players, that the team respects and appreciates Sparano. He has the support of the locker room.
This is not all that uncommon, however. Most players will stick up for the coach, whoever it is. Even Allen had vocal support of the players.
Sparano is a decent option at best. He would be good to keep for continuity, but we know exactly what we are getting with a guy like Sparano.
The floor might not be too low, which considering the last decade or so of performance, may not be a bad thing. But the ceiling is not very high either.
With all that being said, Sparano might be the first or second most likely person to be hired at this point.