Dolphins Need Management Change
By author
Maybe they just need a change in management.
The Dolphins are clearly not a team that is a small part of the scene in it’s urban area. Or the US, for that
matter. I was surprised to find the number of Miami Dolphins sites and information that is available on the internet these days and from so many sources and fans around the US. Even some in England (shout-out to one of our writers here at PhinPhanatic.com). But with such a tradition and a following that the Fins have, why are they not being managed in the same way and with the same focus and skill of many other teams…such as the Green Bay Packers (a municipal-owned franchise), or even the St. Louis Rams are run…?
Here is what we know: there were definite gaffs in handling the changes at Offensive Coordinator and with the Head Coaching position at the end of the season. Tony Sparano was verbally told he’d be the man but then a coast-to-coast search was conducted and reported by the media. Then Sparano was kept and his contract even extended. But the damage was done – clear loss of credibility with ownership and that must translate also to the players and the fans. So, would some other teams have done similar things in handling their situations? I don’t think so. And I dearly hope that Jeff Ireland et. al. have learned their lesson on this because there are numerous upcoming situations such as with both Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to deal with and these need to be handled with tact.
With a professional administration, you could reasonably expect to re-sign Ronnie and part with Ricky at this point. And with a good scouting and front-office, you can reasonably expect to re-sign Lousaka Polite and find another good running back somewhere in rounds 3-5 without giving up your number 15 draft choice in the first round. And with a good, Bill Parcells-type administration, you would expect to bring in at least 1 veteran and 1 very promising rookie QB to challenge Chad Henne, while the new OC and the new QB Coach get things straightened-out from a basic offensive coaching perspective. And, needless to say, with a good administration and ownership, you would expect all of these improvements and continued improvement on Special Teams and Defense and then you would have an overall improved football team that could, for instance, at least win another 3-5 games and have a shot at the playoffs thereby and therewith. You would be able to pretty much count on those things happening if you were a Packers fan or even a 49ers fan, frankly.
And for the record, we do not need to change to the West Coast Offense in order to be successful and therefore should not draft somebody who has spent their entire college career playing that style of offense (Cam Cameron). So, damn-it lay-off those guys and let’s just get a solid QB pick (see Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero editorial here http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2011/03/first-to-the-news-the-dolphins-have-scheduled-a-private-workout-and-visit-with-nevada-qb-colin-kaepernick-for-later-this-mon.html).
And therein lies the problem: despite promises, promises from Steven Ross (owner) and Jeff Ireland (Personnel Guy), they go and make dumb mistakes and let (former New Orleans Saints TE) Jeremy Shockey go to another team despite passing the Dolphins physical and not a physical from the other team; and despite Shockey publicly proclaiming (and this quote staying in the news for several days due to slow news after the Super Bowl) that he really wanted to play for the Dolphins because he lives in Miami. And yet, an explanation is not even forthcoming from that same administration to explain what occurred….
Look, Miami is a great – not good; great city. It is one of those special good-weather and lots of good times to be had cities that is really special. You and I could have ended up as Bills fans, right? But fortunately, we aren’t. Or we could have been the (thug-like) Raiders fans. Anyway, you get the idea. We’re Miami Dolphins fans. The house that Shula built. And with that comes respect and tradition. I do not speak idly here when I mention this fact.
Cross your fingers on this but if the Fins can manage to do the above things and keep their players from drinking too much or beating on their girlfriends during the off-season. And if, knock on wood, the season does happen including that all of the College draftees don’t strike also, then we may just get back some of the satisfaction that is our due. And the NFL will start to take this franchise seriously about more than just ticket sales and the weather.