Dan Campbell makes his first appearance as an NFL head coach Sunday when the Miami Dolphins visit the Tennessee Titans.
The former tight ends coach, named interim last week, is feeling a mixture of excitement and nausea.
"I have to be careful, because certainly you want to look out and you want to see the future and where you're going," said Campbell, via The Tennessean. "But at the same time, when I do that and I start thinking about Sunday a little too much, I start wanting to throw up a little bit. I think that's in a good way."
Well, the last coach made Dolphins fans want to throw up in a not-so-good way, so at least we have a slight improvement on the nauseated reasoning in Miami.
Campbell is the 27th interim head coach since 2000. Of the prior 26, eight were kept on full time the following season and seven finished their interim tenure with a winning record.
Each of the last four interim head coaches have lost their first game (Tony Sparano, Oakland, Week 6, 2014; Wade Phillips, Houston, Week 15, 2013; Joe Vitt, New Orleans, Week 8 2012; Aaron Kromer, New Orleans, Week 1, 2012). The last interim winner was Romeo Crennel with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15, 2011 -- Crennel went 2-1 and was hired full time in 2012.
The Dolphins have the talent on both sides of the football -- when healthy -- to turn their season around. Perhaps Campbell's tough-'em-up attitude will kick Miami players in the rear. We'll find out Sunday whether players will show fire for their interim coach or if limp performance after limp performance is on tap for the rest of 2015.
For now, Campbell is just trying to take it one day at a time.
"I think about Saturday night," he said. "I have no idea how I'm going to sleep. But you know what, I'm going to cross that bridge when I get to it."
