Tony Sparano, veteran of several FCS coaching staffs and father of two Albany football players, is now going to be an NFL head coach.

New Haven native Tony Sparano has been offered the head coaching position by the Miami Dolphins and will accept it at the conclusion of the Dallas Cowboys’ season, according to a source.

The 46-year-old Sparano, who graduated from Lee High and the University of New Haven, is the assistant head coach for the Cowboys.

He was hired at Dallas in 2003 by Bill Parcells, who promoted Sparano to assistant head coach. He was the offensive line coach, running game coordinator and play caller in 2006.

...

Parcells was hired as the Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Dec. 20. He has already hired Jeff Ireland from the Cowboys to become Miami’s general manager.
Advertisement

The Dolphins were 1-15 this season under first-year coach Cam Cameron, who was fired on Thursday.

Sparano also interviewed Saturday with the Baltimore Ravens and interviewed Friday with the Atlanta Falcons.

Sparano has also been an assistant coach with Washington, Cleveland and Jacksonville.

A 1982 UNH graduate, Sparano was the head coach of his alma mater from 1994-98, leading the Chargers to the 1997 NCAA Division II national championship game. He was an assistant at UNH from 1984-87 and an assistant at Boston University from 1988-93. BU was 11-0 in 1993. Sparano did not return calls.

A Dolphins spokeman denied the report through the Associated Press.

Sparano’s two sons play football at the University of Albany. Tony is a sophomore defensive end and Andy a freshman center with the Great Danes. They grew up in Connecticut while their father was the head coach at the University of New Haven from 1994 to 1998. Also, UAlbany offensive coordinator Peter Rossomando has known the Sparano brothers since they were small children. Rossomando played for the elder Sparano at Boston University when Sparano was offensive coordinator there from 1989 to 1993.

Citing a source, the newspaper said the 46-year-old Sparano was offered the job Saturday by Miami’s new general manager Jeff Ireland.

Sparano, a former coach at the University of Albany, was hired in 2003 by former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, who promoted Sparano to assistant head coach.

Sparano offered head coaching job with Dolphins
By Dave Solomon, Register Staff
http://www.nhregister.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FNHR%2FSports&r21.content=%2FNHR%2FSports%2FTopStoryList_Story_1375189
http://uofalbany.blogspot.com/2008/01/former-ualbany-coach-sparano-offered.html