Monday morning Ross and Grier Dolphins press conference breakdown

The Miami Dolphins had their first press conference since news broke of Adam Gase’s firing and Tannenbaum’s reassignment. The message seemed to be clear, even when it couldn’t be spelt out by the Dolphin’s brass.

Black Monday hit the NFL hard on the last day of the year. Several coaching staffs will be out of work and their front offices will be desperately digging into a thin bag of coaching candidates. Monday was the first day that we got to see Steve Ross talk to media since Miami lost to Buffalo.

When Ross was asked why he let Adam Gase go, he stated: “Adam wants to win and win now. He’s in his fourth year and I think every coach in his fourth year has to win” This may comment may seem strange out of context. Many may interpret it as Ross not wanting to win. However, coupling this from the whisperings coming from sources, this was the real reason Adam was let go and it had nothing to do with wins and losses. It had everything to do with communication and maintaining relationships.

Grier answered a handful of questions and reemphasized his pedigree that started with Bill Parcells and continued through Bill Belichick, Pete Carrol, and Nick Saban. From this group he has developed “influences” on how he views to build a successful football team. He then noted in the press conference that he has spoken to Ross specifically about his team building philosophies and that Ross was 100% on board with them. Yet, he maintained that he is open-minded enough to allow a coach to bring ideas to the table.

In short, Grier wants to find a coach that will build the Dolphins in the way Grier wants, which he has learned from his top-tier mentors.

From that simple message, we learned what happened to Adam Gase and Steve Ross. Adam became a coach that was no longer a team player. He grew distant from his players (apparently and obviously), his GM, and his owner. Gase wanted to do it HIS way, bring in HIS players, and run HIS offense. He had no interest in listening to Grier’s plan that Ross also valued.

Unfortunately when it came to building a roster and putting a winning personnel on the field, Gase failed miserably. When Grier and Ross stepped in to alleviate some of those responsibilities so that Adam could focus on what he was good at, Gase bristled and the power trio fell apart… and quickly.

It is obvious that there are assumptions being made and readings between the lines. But where there is smoke there is generally a fire and in Miami there is a mushroom cloud.

Gase let his pride get in his way of his players and his front office and desperately tried to dump his shortcomings on injuries, playing “hot teams”, and player’s poor decisions. At then end, the only poor decision that existed in the Miami locker room was not listening to those around him.

Ross emphasized several times that Grier has a strong reputation of being an excellent communicator and evaluator. He now is the Captain of the ship and there are zero people above him in regards to organizational decisions. He is the puppet master where before he was just the puppet.

Keep that in mind when Miami looks for top-tier coaches. Nobody is taking the reins away from Chris Grier, and he deserves this opportunity.