Belichick Is Coach of Year Despite Scandal

The New England Patriots' perfect regular season was enough to outweigh the controversies in the voting for coach of the year. Bill Belichick, the Patriots' unyielding coach, was given the honor yesterday by the Associated Press.

He received 29 of 50 votes in balloting by media members. The Green Bay Packers' Mike McCarthy finished second with 15 votes. The Dallas Cowboys' Wade Phillips and the Jacksonville Jaguars' Jack Del Rio received two votes each, and the Indianapolis Colts' Tony Dungy and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Jon Gruden got one apiece.

Belichick also won the award in 2003. The legitimacy of his candidacy had been debated this season because he and the Patriots were punished for a spying scandal in the opening week of the season and were criticized for allegedly running up the score in some games.

But the Patriots completed the first 16-0 regular season in NFL history with last Saturday's triumph over the New York Giants at Giants Stadium. They set the league's single-season scoring record and are the heavy favorite to win what would be a fourth Super Bowl title under Belichick.

"It is really exciting to be a part of this football team and what these guys did," Belichick said late Saturday night after the victory over the Giants. "All the credit goes to the players."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000 and stripped the team of a first-round draft choice next spring for using videotaping equipment to steal the play signals of the New York Jets' coaches in the opening game of the season at Giants Stadium. Some opposing players and outside observers accused the Patriots of unnecessarily embarrassing opponents during a season in which they beat the Washington Redskins, 52-7, and the Buffalo Bills, 56-10.

Canned Cameron

The Miami Dolphins fired Cam Cameron as head coach after a 1-15 season, putting the expected remaking of the organization by new front office chief Bill Parcells well underway.

Parcells, hired last week as the Dolphins' executive vice president of football operations, fired Randy Mueller as the team's general manager on Monday, the day after the regular season ended. Parcells hired Cowboys scouting executive Jeff Ireland to replace Mueller on Wednesday, and the two wasted no time dismissing Cameron, who was hired by the Dolphins after Nick Saban left the team last offseason but spent his rookie year as an NFL head coach flirting with the possibility of a winless season.

The Dolphins announced that they were retaining two assistants, linebackers coach George Edwards and assistant special teams coach Steve Hoffman. The club did not retain highly regarded defensive coordinator Dom Capers but indicated that some of Cameron's assistants could be contacted after a new head coach is hired.

The Dolphins joined the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons in the market for a head coach. Both the Dolphins and Falcons are hiring new coaches for a second straight offseason.

It is believed that Parcells will pursue a coach with whom he was worked closely in the past. Some Parcells associates have mentioned Cowboys assistant head coach Tony Sparano, Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley and Cardinals running backs coach Maurice Carthon as possibilities.

Sparano is scheduled to interview today with the Falcons, as is Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. The Falcons reportedly were to interview Colts assistant head coach Jim Caldwell yesterday. The Ravens reportedly have received permission to interview Sparano, Garrett and Caldwell.