Tony Sparano Has Been Fired

Tony Sparano, the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets, has been fired, per Chris Mortensen and the beat reporters. After Brian Schottenheimer, and now Sparano, the Jets will have their third offensive coordinator in three years.

As soon as Schottenheimer was fired, the Jets targeted and quickly acquired Sparano, eschewing a careful study of the field to find the most qualified candidate. Instead, they found one of the few coaches worse than Schottenheimer. The hiring never made much sense, but I was hopeful that he would thrive in this role, as coaches like Wade Philips.

Hope quickly turned to despair as the Jets were nearly unable to score in the preseason, and faced similar problems throughout the season. Sparano was, for the most part, uncreative. He handled the Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow struggle poorly, and there are many accounts that he and Rex Ryan just did not get along.

Sparano was hamstrung by an incredible number of player injuries, but those that remained healthy, such as Sanchez, got worse. The offense ended up 30th in the league. So now the Jets will search for a new, hopefully proven, coordinator. Many reports have indicated that Norv Turner is their #1 interest, however we will know shortly. I'm personally hoping they engage in a wide-spread search for a new coordinator with the new general manager. Let's hope they don't make as poor a decision this time as they did with Sparano. Cheers, Tony. May your fistpumps always be strong.