Dolphins fire Sparano, Haley let go by KC
Even before the Miami Dolphins fired Tony Sparano on Monday, names of potential successors were being bandied about.
Bill Cowher? Jeff Fisher? Jon Gruden?
"I'd like to find a young Don Shula if that's possible," owner Stephen Ross said.
Shula turns 81 next month, which rules out that option. But it's no wonder Ross craves some stability - since Shula retired in 1996, no coach has made it through five full seasons in Miami.
That includes Sparano, fired three games from the end of his fourth season, and one day after the Dolphins lost to the Philadelphia Eagles to fall to 4-9. The defeat ended a recent surge by the Dolphins after they lost their first seven games.
With two other NFL teams already in the market for a new coach, Ross didn't want to wait any longer to start shopping. Sparano's dismissal came hours after the Kansas City Chiefs fired coach Todd Haley. Jacksonville fired coach Jack Del Rio on Nov. 29.
General manager Jeff Ireland's status had also been in question, but he'll be retained and take part in the coaching search, Ross said.
Todd Bowles, who had been assistant head coach and secondary coach, becomes interim head coach. He's the sixth coach since 2004 for the Dolphins, who haven't won a playoff game since 2000 and haven't reached the Super Bowl since 1984.
The Dolphins play Sunday at Buffalo, but they're already assured of their third consecutive losing season, the longest such streak since the 1960s.
"The results speak for themselves," Ross said at a hastily called news conference. "We're looking to becoming a winning organization, and I thought this was the best time to make the change and let us go in a direction that will allow us to become that."
Joining Ross at the news conference was Ireland, who hired Sparano in Miami and also worked with him in Dallas.
"It's a difficult day for me," Ireland said. "He's a friend of mine. He has been a colleague of mine from before we got here together."
Ross is expected to pursue a coach with star power. But with Ireland remaining in charge of personnel, someone of Cowher's caliber might not be interested in the job.
Chiefs fire Haley after 5-8 start: The losses kept mounting, the tension kept growing and ultimately Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli decided the status quo was no longer good enough.
It was time to part ways with Todd Haley.
The Chiefs fired the combustible head coach Monday with the team Haley led to a surprising AFC West title less than a year ago stuck at the bottom of the division following a series of devastating injuries and discouraging blowouts.
The Chiefs dropped to 5-8 after Sunday's 37-10 loss the New York Jets, their fifth loss in six games. Kansas City committed 11 penalties for 128 yards in the dismal performance, including a 15-yarder on Haley for unsportsmanlike conduct that may have sealed his fate.
"Timing in these situations is always difficult. There never seems to be a right time," Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said. "We just felt the inconsistent play the team has experienced throughout the season, including yesterday's game, made today the right day to do it."
Haley wasn't the only coach fired Monday; the Dolphins also dumped Tony Sparano after just four seasons. Jacksonville's Jack Del Rio was fired last month.
Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel will serve as the Chiefs' interim coach for the final three games, and Pioli said he will be considered for the permanent job.
"I don't perceive Todd Haley as a mistake," Pioli said. "Todd Haley is a good football coach. I'll say that. What we need to do is figure out what direction we're headed in and how we're going to continue to make progress, how we can get some consistency back."
Haley took over a team that won six games the previous two seasons under Herm Edwards, and he leaves with a 19-27 record in his first NFL head coaching job. But despite winning the AFC West last season, it's hard to tell if the team improved under his watch.
The quarterback situation was a mess, even when Matt Cassel was healthy, and the offensive line has three players in Ryan Lilja, Barry Richardson and Casey Wiegmann who may not be back next season. Despite a background on offense, Haley only managed to coax the unit into an average of 293.8 yards, which ranked 28th in the league, and 177.4 yards through the air - 30th out of 32 teams.
It was that lackluster performance that cost Haley his job.
"I guess you never expect it because you always try to be optimistic about things, but this is the NFL. It's just the nature of the beast," linebacker Derrick Johnson said. "It goes on all the time, throughout the year. I won't say it's no big deal - it's a very big deal for the Kansas City Chiefs right now - but this goes on throughout the year."