Sparano Can Make Oakland Raiders Better This Year

September 29, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders assistant head coach/offensive line coach Tony Sparano (center) in front of guard Mike Brisiel (65) and offensive guard Lamar Mady (63) against the Washington Redskins before the game at O.co Coliseum. The Redskins defeated the Raiders 24-14. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Experience

Sparano is not a rookie and more than that, he has the experience of turning a losing team  around into the opposite. In 2008, Sparano set an NFL record by taking his Dolphins team that in 2007 finished 1-15 to 11-5 and a division title. And if he hadn’t lost quarterback Chad Pennington, who was playing well, the turnaround would have been longer.

Sparano said of his experiences with turnarounds at his introductory press conference, “I have that [Miami] experience to draw upon. I have experience in several situations where we walked into not ideal situations when I was with Parcells and we went into Dallas, that wasn’t a very good situation and we won 10 football games there. And obviously the Miami situation wasn’t a very good situation and we won 11 football games.

There was a couple of times in Miami where we didn’t start very good and we we finished pretty well and with Marty Schottenheimer, we were 0-5 and finished 8-8 in Washington. So I’ve been a part of this, I’ve seen it before and I understand how it happens and I do understand what buttons to push.”

That’s a pretty good case!