Dan Campbell officially no longer a Dolphins

There was no fanfare or no public good-bye, but on Monday, Dan Campbell was officially released from the team so that he could interview for jobs elsewhere thus ending his time as a Miami Dolphin coach.

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The word has circulated around social media today that at least four other teams have interest in Campbell as a coach. Not a head coach but as a coach. What Campbell does now is entirely up to he and his wife. He puts behind him an incredible season. Not a good one, an incredible one. No, not for the fans, not for the franchise, for Dan Campbell.

Imagine you are hired to be a tight-ends coach after spending a single season as an intern. Three years later on a flight from London you are contemplating what you can do to make your little part of the team better. The following day you are an NFL head coach. That quick. You are no longer thinking about how to make your unit better you have to make the entire team better.

Campbell finished the season 5-7 and more often than not the team didn’t look a whole lot better than it did under Philbin. But Campbell was different. He has a swagger about him. He is a guys-guy. He commands attention in a room because it oozes from his pores. Campbell led this team and made decisions that needed to be made and his reward was a thank you, a nice few months of much better pay, and a future that has nowhere to go but up.

Campbell isn’t head coaching material yet. But he likely will be in the next five years. In fact he could very well be the hot name by the time the Dolphins are ready to rid themselves of Adam Gase if he doesn’t succeed. Campbell however has one up on all of the other first time head coaches. He has actually been a head coach. He knows enough about what it takes to know he wants to do it for the rest of his life. There will be no surprises for Campbell.

Today Campbell is exploring his options. He is not the Dolphins head coach because he wasn’t the “it” guy. There were questions about whether he could attract a strong coaching staff. There are excuses. Campbell is the only coach I can ever remember in history that is revered by the fan base for losing. If you have a head coach who can lose with no experience and still excite the fans to support you, you have a pretty good motivator.

Good luck Dan Campbell, I’m sure someday we will all be sitting here bitching about how they let you go as you beat the crap out of the Dolphins from across the sideline. Sadly, it will probably be true.