[Update 6:02 pm: The Dolphins have rescheduled the "media roundtable discussion" for noon on Saturday. Still unsure of what exactly will be said. But the Herald is reporting that talks with Sparano hit a significant snag, saying talks got "heated" sometime after 4 pm - heated enough that Sparano let it be known he was not comfortable returning as head coach in 2011. Wow.]
[Update 4:27 pm: Or not. Dolphins PR man Harvey Greene says it's been postponed and doesn't know when it will happen. So what the heck is going on now?]
We may finally be getting some answers. The Dolphins have announced that they will hold a "media roundtable discussion" today at around 4:45 pm. It's expected that the Dolphins will tell us exactly what is going on with their head coaching position. Numerous reports indicate that Tony Sparano has been retained. But we don't know the terms at all.
And no official announcement has been made.
Stephen Ross reportedly spent the afternoon with Tony Sparano (and possibly GM Jeff Ireland) and discussed "contract adjustments" likely to smooth things over with their head coach - who was left twisting in the wind all week long while Ross and Ireland did everything in their power to replace him. Sparano's plan for the coaching staff also may have been discussed.
This roundtable should also clear up Dan Henning's future. It's been speculated for a while and reported yesterday that Henning plans to step down as the Dolphins' offensive coordinator. Perhaps this will be confirmed this afternoon as well.
The most bizarre piece of news today that I'm sure will come up at this "roundtable" will be Ross' scheduled meeting with Eric Mangini. Yes, I said Eric Mangini. As first reported by Jeff Darlington, sources claim Ross had a meeting set up with the former Jets and Browns head coach to "pick his brain" as a consultant because he has "knowledge of the division."
The meeting, though, has since been canceled.
But still...um...isn't that what Bill Parcells was for? And is Mangini really the guy to turn to for any kind of advice?
Very weird. Very, very weird. And this just accentuates how odd this week has been for the Miami Dolphins.