Miami’s friends list keeps growing

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, January 23, 2008  |  Comments( 2 )

Miami Dolphins
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Why just take a slice when you can grab the whole cake? The Dolphins know who they want to fill their coaching vacancies, namely virtually every current employee of the Cowboys, and they're doing what they can to add as many of Jerry Jones' former people as possible.

The relationships Bill Parcells established in Dallas led him to bringing aboard Tony Sparano as his new coach, Jeff Ireland as his general manager, and Brian Gaine as a personnel assistant. In turn, this first new group is now focused on manning the remaining empty ladder rungs with recent colleagues. While Dallas struggles to plug a growing number of unoccupied slots, perhaps by this point with temps and interns, Miami improves its capacities for supervision and guidance with each hire of a former Jones minion.

For example, ex-Cowboys secondary coach Todd Bowles is now the current Dolphins secondary coach, as his new team pounced at the opportunity to acquire his services once he became available. Bowles also gets an assistant head coach title out of the deal. Additionally, Kacy Rodgers is another recent ex-Dallas staffer who was recently given the same job in South Florida, specifically heading the defensive line.

Further, Paul Pasqualoni, who spent the past two seasons coaching Dallas' linebackers, will now manage every defensive position in Miami as the new coordinator. Like Sparano, he also served as the Cowboys tight ends coach for a time, working most notably with Jason Witten, but the former Penn State linebacker will stick to his roots at his new station. The coach with the second-most wins in Syracuse University history will be employing his abilities as a teacher and overseer for a defense that, with Parcells throwing around his weight in the office, figures to add many young players in this year's draft.

Parcells has often focused on bringing in guys with whom he's worked before, including coaches he trusts. Sparano certainly falls in that category, as he served as Parcells' lieutenant in varying capacities during the time they spent together in Dallas. By extension, it's no surprise that Sparano would want his staff to be comprised of leaders who share a comfort level with him.

The Dolphins certainly aren't doing anything untoward: They're taking on guys whose contracts with their previous employer had expired, and besides, NFL coaches change franchises about as often as most people change their car's oil. It's frustrating to the Cowboys, but a man with Parcells' gravitational pull is not only going to lure his subordinates back but also set off a chain reaction whereby his subordinate's subordinates will feel the draw, too.

It's the equivalent of checking the Networking box on the "I am here for:" section of one's MySpace profile, namely in that skilled people in a particular field have been brought together to work because they happened to cross each other's paths. While the Dolphins may not also be posting raunchily obscene comments on friends' pages or alluring photographs, they are collectively just putting their contacts to good use.

But this has to be more than simply being on good terms with a former boss: The prospect of change initiated by Parcells is enticing job seekers to consider working for the Dolphins, providing evidence that the potential for the next few seasons trumps the rottenness of the last one.
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