UNH Alum and Former Coach Tony Sparano Hired as Head Coach of NFL's Miami Dolphins

MIAMI -- University of New Haven alum and former Charger Football coach Tony Sparano has been hired as the next head football coach for the NFL's Miami Dolphins, the team announced at a press conference on Wednesday. 

Sparano, a 1984 graduate of UNH, becomes the eighth head coach in Miami Dolphins team history, replacing Cam Cameron.  The team, under the leadership of Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, Executive Vice President of Football Operations Bill Parcells, team general manager Jeff Ireland and now Sparano, holds the top pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

A veteran of nine seasons in the NFL and 24 years in the coaching profession overall, Sparano heads to the Dolphins after spending the last five years with the Dallas Cowboys.  He helped lead the Cowboys to playoff qualifications in three of those seasons, including a 13-3 record and an NFC East Championship in 2007. Sparano also has five years of experience as a head coach at the collegiate level, all of them at University of New Haven (1994-98).

Sparano helped UNH's Division II program rise to national prominence in the mid-1990's, leading the Chargers to some of their most memorable and noteworthy accomplishments.  Chief among them was the Chargers' appearance in the 1997 NCAA Championship game, when UNH became, at that time, the school with the smallest enrollment ever to play for the national title.  UNH also made an NCAA Playoff appearance under Sparano in 1995, advancing to the national quarterfinals.  Sparano is second all-time in wins at UNH, posting a 41-14-1 (.732) record during his five-year tenure as head coach.

In 2006, with Sparano as the Cowboys’ primary play caller, Dallas ranked fifth in the NFL in total offense, as they averaged 360.8 yards per game. In addition, their 425 points scored was the fourth-highest total in the NFL. Of the team’s 52 touchdowns on the year, 21 came via the ground, the third-highest figure in the league.  Quarterback Tony Romo – in his first season as an NFL starter after having joined the team as an undrafted college free agent in 2003 – completed 220 of 337 passes for 2,903 yards with 19 TDs, 13 INTs and a passer rating of 95.1 despite only starting the final 10 games. He was one of four Cowboys on the offensive side of the ball to be selected to the NFC Pro Bowl squad (T Flozell Adams, C Andre Gurode, TE Jason Witten), the most offensive players to represent Dallas in the annual All-Star game since 1996, also the last time the team sent a quarterback to the Pro Bowl. In addition, Dallas produced a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in 2006 (Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Julius Jones), just the second time in team history that this has occurred (1979).

In Sparano’s first year with the Cowboys rookie tight end Jason Witten, a third-round draft choice that year, caught 35 passes for 347 yards and a TD. His reception total that year tied for fourth among all NFL rookies and was first among the league’s rookie tight ends. The following season, Witten established himself as one of the NFL’s premier tight ends as he totaled 87 receptions for 980 yards and six TDs, becoming the first Cowboys tight end to make the Pro Bowl since Jay Novacek in 1995. Witten’s reception and yardage totals both led all NFC tight ends and ranked second in the NFL. Over the past three seasons (2005-07), four different Cowboys offensive linemen were selected to the Pro Bowl a total of five times, including three this year – T Flozell Adams, G Leonard Davis and C Andre Gurode. Over the past two seasons, the Cowboys totaled 35 rushing touchdowns. Julius Jones surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing barrier in 2006 with 1,084 yards, while Marion Barber, who fell just 25 yards shy of the 1,000-yard rushing mark this year but averaged 4.8 yards per attempt (204-975), has compiled 24 rushing touchdowns over the last two years, the second-highest total in the NFL over this stretch.

Sparano got his start in the NFL as offensive quality control coach with the Cleveland Browns in 1999 – the first year that the team resumed play following a three-year absence. The next year, he was promoted to offensive line coach, where he oversaw a unit that allowed 40 sacks, 20 fewer than they did the year before. He moved on to the Washington Redskins in 2001, where he served as that team’s tight ends coach. He assumed the same role with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2002, and that year the team’s tight ends totaled 69 receptions for 712 yards and six TDs, including 43 catches for 461 yards and four scores by Kyle Brady.

Immediately preceding his NFL tenure, Sparano was the head coach at the University of New Haven from 1994-98, where his teams made a pair of trips to the Division II playoffs during that time, including a runner-up finish in 1997. He was named the New York Metropolitan Football Writers Division II Coach of the Year that year and was the New England Football Writers Division II/III Coach of the Year in both 1995 and 1997.  Current UNH head football coach Peter Rossomando was an assistant coach under Sparano in all five seasons.

Sparano began his coaching career at New Haven in 1984, where he spent four seasons tutoring the offensive line and serving as recruiting coordinator at the school. He moved on to Boston University in 1988 and served the next six years at the school. His first year was spent as the Terriers’ offensive line coach, recruiting coordinator and academic liaison before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 1989, spending his final five years there in that post, including the 1993 season when the team put together an 11-0 mark.

Sparano was a four-year letterman at UNH, where he started at center and went on to earn his degree in criminal law. Sparano is a native of West Haven, Conn., where he attended Richard C. Lee High School. He and his wife, Jeanette, have two sons, Tony and Andrew - both members of University at Albany (N.Y.) football team - and a daughter, Ryan Leigh.