Sparano's Future Uncertain

MIAMI (CBS4) - Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano looked like a coach who was preparing to lose his job when he met with the media Monday morning.

Sparano still has to meet with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross later in the day to find out if he'll be back as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2011.

Nevertheless, Sparano said he's already started to work on evaluating the team for next season.

"We'll start to sit down and work on it (player evaluation) right away," Sparano said. "I think we're aware of some of the problems."

Sparano defended his position during the press conference saying, "Interesting thing is, although there's a lot to fix; I do believe you are what your record says you are. When I came here, they were something else. There are a lot of good things," Sparano said.

But, the press conference quickly turned to the scheduled meeting between Sparano and Ross.

"I'm not going to get into my plan with Mr. Ross," Sparano said when asked about how he will defend his performance with Ross. "Listen, I don't take my job for granted one day. I've been fortunate here. I think I have the greatest job in the world. I love coaching this football team. I put it before a lot of personal things in my life."

Sparano also wouldn't get into any details about what needs to be fixed with the offense. But, Sparano did elude to some potential staff changes on offense that could happen very quickly.

"I've started some of that myself right now," Sparano said about evaluating the potential changes to his staff.

The problems for the Dolphins and Sparano have primarily been on the offensive side of the ball over the last two years.

Sparano's first season brought offensive innovation when the team brought back the single-wing offense, also known as the Wildcat. The formation caught opposing defenses completely off-guard and helped spur the Fins playoff run that season.

The once vaunted running game of the Fins became an after-thought when the team acquired wide receiver Brandon Marshall. He produced the numbers, but he could only do so much when Chad Henne would check-down his throws to short gains or throw it to the other team.

Henne became the biggest problem with the Dolphins offense, just one season after showing promise down the stretch last year. His lack of development over the season was perhaps the most glaring problem for the Fins

Sparano wouldn't commit to Henne for the long-term. Sparano was asked if Henne was the starter going into next year. Sparano said that would be part of the evaluation process, but wouldn't officially call Henne the starter.

"Chad is a pretty tough guy mentally; I think that he's handled all this really well, from a mental standpoint," Sparano said.

One problem for the Fins is they only have Henne under contract for the coming season. Backup Tyler Thigpen arguably played just as well as Henne, if not better, in limited action. Thigpen has the ability to move the pocket and still get good zip on the ball. But, he saw about one-eighth of the snaps Henne saw this year, even after the Fins were eliminated from the playoffs.

"Right now, Chad is the one guy we have under contract," Sparano said. "At this point in time we have two young quarterbacks; both have progressed since they've been here. I think Tyler when he came here, just the conventional getting under the center as opposed to shotgun stuff has been completely different for him. We gotta evaluate it all."

Sparano said the mood of the team was not good when they met Monday morning.

"There's no next week to try to make it right," Sparano said. "I would tell you the message was here's what we need to do, here's what we need to do to fix that. From their (the players) end, they've got to accept some responsibility."

Sparano hired one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, Mike Nolan, to replace Paul Pasqualoni before the 2010 season. Nolan helped the defense regain some ferocity, but the defense wore out near the end of the game because they were on the field for so long due to the offense's ineptitude.

One of the many problems the team faced over the last two years is a weakened running game. Part of the problem came from Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams being limited in carries, but another big part came from an offensive line that couldn't open holes.

The issue for Sparano is that the offensive line is his specialty. If Sparano can't get the line to block well enough to get the running game going, then some would question how he could get any of the team's parts to work together.

The lone bright spot for the Fins offense was the emergence of wide receiver Davone Bess and the continued strong play of wide receiver Brandon Marshall. Bess caught 79 passes for 820 yards and 5 touchdowns, while Marshall pulled in 86 passes for 1,014 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Monday after the end of the regular season in the NFL is often referred to as Black Monday because it's typically when most coaches of under-performing teams get fired. Through midday Monday, the Browns had fired Eric Mangini, the 49ers had previously fired Mike Singeltary, the Panthers fired John Fox, the Jaguars may fire Jack Del Rio, and Tennessee might fire Jeff Fisher by the end of the day.

The only question remaining for the Dolphins is, will Tony Sparano be added to the list of unemployed coaches at the end of the day Monday. If his demeanor in the press conference Monday morning was any indicator, the Dolphins will be in the midst of a coaching search starting Tuesday.