Phinatic Pheature: Bryan Wiedmeier conference call

Phinphanatic.com was invited to participate in a web conference call with Miami Dolphins President and C.O.O. Bryan Wiedmeier. Bryan has been with the Miami Dolphins for 27 years. After my nerves settled a bit, I was able to actually spit out a few questions, this is after all, more than an honor.

Earlier this week I solicited around the web, the opportunity for you the fan to ask a question of Mr. Wiedmeier. I received countless Emails but due to time restraints, I was only able to ask 2 questions. If you did not have your question answered, please remember that the Miami Dolphins will be allowing us to do this with other members of staff, management, coaches, and players in the future. So keep an eye open for the next announcement. In the meantime, here is the interview.

Phinphanatic.com:

1st question: Jack Ryan – “Which teams in our division do the Dolphins love to play the most, the least, and in your 27 years how often has it changed?”

BW:
“(laughing) Good question, I think they like to play anyone in our division because of how the games mean so much. Many of you remember how the Buffalo rivalry was the red letter day of the year, then back in the early 80’s the Jets were the red letter game, and then it became New England. The one thing I do know is if you are part of the organization, the fans, if you love the Dolphins, and even our players, anybody in the division gets your blood going, it really goes up and down with who is in your way at that point in time to be able to get done what you want to get done.”

Question 2: Peter Goltzman: “Randy Mueller was in charge of the draft this year, he and Saban both ran the draft last year. Why is there such a big difference in overall talent between the two years?”

BW:
“It’s a fair question. Randy’s role was a little different last year with Coach Saban, under the system that Coach Saban ran, he was the descision maker and set the tone, the pace, for what he wanted to do in the personnel arena. Whether we hit on some of those guys and they eventually become good players, whether the first year of the draft when Randy wasn’t here or last year, that remains to be seen. This year, the functionality was a little different, Randy had the primary accountability to run the draft, and set the tone and the approach and how we would go about it. With a lot of input from Cam, and again the two of them worked together as though they were partners on it. So whether it turns out to be more successful than last years draft, only time is going to tell. We are optimistic about what they were able to accomplish this year in terms of the number of prospects they had that could stick with the team, but the roles were slightly different.”

PP: “If I may ask just a follow up to add on to the end of that, there was a lot of talk prior to the draft that the Dolphins had to use the Nick Saban scouting system, and because of the time frame they could not progress, will we see a difference in the way they scout college players?”

BW:
“It will be subtle. A lot of that was the grading system. Every team, no matter who it is, has some basic fundamentals, you’ve got your player criteria which is more an objective criteria that your scouts are going to use when assessing players. Nick had a system that he brought in that was very similar to what he used with Belichek in Cleveland, so a lot of people off that tree use the same grading system. It’s fine, but it’s not what Randy has used in his previous stops, nor was it what his predecessors here, Tom Heckert and Tom Brazen used in the past. Really all that is, it’s more a system of how you grade and assess and filter the information for your evaluators to use. So much was made of that, it will change after this year, because Randy will put in the type of system that he likes to use. But ultimately it comes down to the people who are doing it and the number of views they have, I think that will remain with the number of area scouts we have now who have accountabilities, we have the national scouts that do the cross checks over the tops of those guys. One subtle change was made in the off-season was we promoted Chris Greer who is a real rising star in this league, to take over the directorship of the scouting department, Ron Labadie who has been with us a number of years is going to be one of our national scouts. So in moving the people around as Randy builds his program, we feel pretty good about the direction that he is taking it. The mechanics of how it is executed will change slightly.”

PP: “Fantastic sir, thank you very much we appreciate it.”

BW: “You bet.”

To listen to the entire conference call and the questions from the other web sites involved, click the play button below to listen. I will try and have the other sites questions posted this weekend.