MIAMI (Reuters) - The Miami Dolphins have appointed former Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Tony Sparano as their head coach, the NFL team said on Wednesday.
Sparano was the favorite for the job since Cam Cameron was fired after a dreadful season in which the Dolphins managed just one win.
"I look forward to this challenge, I can't wait to get involved in it and I am looking to build the character and chemistry of this team," Sparano told a news conference.
Sparano, who was assistant to Wade Phillips this year at Dallas, has spent nine years coaching in the NFL - the last five of them with the Cowboys, who lost their NFC playoff to the New York Giants on Sunday.
The Dolphins have assembled a new staff dominated by ex-Cowboys with Sparano working under overall head of football operations Bill Parcells - who was his boss at the Cowboys until 2006.
Parcells has also brought in a new general manager Jeff Ireland from the Cowboys while freshly appointed quarterbacks coach David Lee and new assistant director of player personnel, Brian Gaine were also part of Parcells's team at Dallas.
"You have to go through a culture change right now, I don't care what happened in the past, we will surround our players with outstanding teachers and coaches, work them hard and hope that is good enough," said Sparano.
Parcells, a two-time Super Bowl winning coach, has insisted he won't be involved in the coaching side but Sparano said he would have no reluctance in turning to him for advice.
"He is here as a resource for me, I will ask as many questions as I can and continue to learn," he said.
The Dolphins are expected to undergo radical changes in onfield personnel as well in the coming months and while Sparano said it was too soon to talk about the details of such moves he indicated a new quarterback was a priority: "The quarterback position is the position," he said.
Sparano is only the eighth head coach since the franchise was formed in 1966 - Don Shula was in charge from 1970-1995 -- but he is the fifth in the past eight years.
(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Justin Palmer)
