Marino Doubts Cowher Will Take Dolphins' Coaching Job

(NewsCore) - Hall of Fame quarterback and Miami Dolphins legend Dan Marino chimed in with his thoughts on the Dolphins' head coach search Thursday, saying he would love to see former Steelers coach Bill Cowher take the job, but doubted it would happen.

"I would love to see [Cowher] be the Dolphins' coach or if he wanted to coach again because that would be great for the NFL, but I don't think his mind-set is that he wants to coach again," Marino said of his CBS colleague, Cowher, who led Pittsburgh to a Super Bowl victory in 2005-06.

"And he may change that over time, but my feeling is that he's a pretty straightforward guy that tells the truth most of the time... and he said on TV that he doesn't have any plans of coming back, and I believe him," Marino said during his weekly podcast on Dolphins.com.

The Dolphins are looking to replace Tony Sparano, whose long-speculated dismissal came to fruition Monday following Miami's ninth loss of the season to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said the search for a new head coach would begin immediately. When asked what he might be looking for in a candidate, the Dolphins owner quipped, "I'd like to find a young Don Shula," in reference to the Hall of Fame coach who led Miami to five AFC titles and two Super Bowl victories between 1970 and 1995.

Ross openly pursued current 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and former Steelers coach Bill Cowher last season while Sparano was still under contract.

Miami went 29-33 under Sparano, who took over the team in 2008. The Dolphins won the AFC East in Sparano's first season before losing to Baltimore in the first round of the playoffs.