Sports Radio Interviews

Quick-Change Artists — Sparano and Smith Find Success

One-year turnarounds aren’t uncommon in the NFL, but 2008 seemed to be unusually full of them. The Baltimore Ravens went from 5-11 to 11-5 and a trip to the AFC Championship in their 2007-2008 span, but there’s no question that the Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons had the most amazing stories last season. The Dolphins, one overtime TD pass to Greg Camarillo from the first 0-16 season in NFL history in 2007, brought Bill Parcells, Tony Sparano and the Wildcat to town and won the AFC East in 2008. And the Atlanta Falcons, brought to their knees by Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino in 2007, won a playoff berth under new management, new head coach Mike Smith, and one of the best drafts in recent years.

On Wednesday, both Sparano and Smith spent time with The Border Patrol on 810 WHB in Kansas City — they were both in town for the NFL 101 Awards banquet, an event held every year since 1969.

Smith, on his NFC Coach of the Year award:

“It’s a great honor, and I’m very excited to get out there and be around some other great award-winners. It’s not really an individual honor, guys — it’s a group effort, and I can’t say enough about the coaching staff we were able to put together. They worked extremely hard, and it’s just as much an honor for them as it is for me.”

Smith is just as nice as he appears to be. I met him for the first time at this year’s Combine, as he was leaving Lucas Oil Stadium on one of the days. I was covering the event for Football Outsiders and the Washington Post, and he gave me a ten minute Q & A when he was obviously busy and tired.  He will never talk about himself, always deflecting attention to his coaching staff, team management, or his players. But make no mistake, that Falcons turnaround would not have happened without the culture change Smith brought to the team.

Click here to listen to Mike Smith on 810 WHB!

Sparano was asked how he helped turn the Dolphins around, Kansas City radio obviously being interested in such transformations since their beloved Chiefs stunk on ice in 2008:

“I think there were a lot of things that had to come into play. First of all, there was certainly a culture change that needed to take place, and I think it had to take place in the entire organization … every person that worked in the facility had a role in our success … as we got along in this thing, we tried to stress the importance of doing things right … we had to take a long look at all the personnel, and make some touch decisions, but that’s part of the battle.”

Click here to listen to Tony Sparano on 810 WHB!

Tags: 810 WHB, Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, Mike Smith, NFL interviews, sports radio interviews, Tony Sparano