Miami Dolphins know all about facing interim head coaches
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins will face a Bill Callahan led Washington Redskins team this weekend at Hard Rock Stadium after the firing of Jay Gruden.
When the Miami Dolphins kick-off this weekend they will be doing so against another winless team but a team with a new head coach. The Redskins fired their coach on Monday.
Miami is no stranger to interim head coaches. They themselves have had three interim HC’s in their history. The first came in 2004 when Dave Wannstedt stepped down during the team’s bye week and Jim Bates took over. Bates went three and four down the stretch.
After making the mistake of extending the late Tony Sparano, Stephen Ross fired him a year later and replaced him with the highly respected Todd Bowles. Bowles finished the season 2-1 but was not retained after the season.
Lastly, the Dolphins made TE coach Dan Campbell their head coach after firing Joe Philbin in 2015 Campbell coached 12 games that season and finished with a 5-7 record. His first two games as the team’s head coach were big wins. They blew out the Tennessee Titans in his first game and then dismantled the San Diego Chargers.
Following the Chargers game, the Dolphins won only three more of the final 10 games.
This week they will face Bill Callahan who was named the Redskins new head coach on Monday. Callahan told reporters that he is not going to start rookie Dwayne Haskins just yet but that could be media talk. No one knows right now who Callahan intends to start at QB.
Callahan coached the Raiders to a Super Bowl in his first season as their head coach after the replaced Jon Gruden. The two met in the Super Bowl that season when Gruden beat the Raiders while with Tampa Bay. Callahan coached from 2002-2003 with Oakland.
In Washington, he will have the rest of the season to make an impression on Daniel Snyder who will be looking for a new head coach. A job that many may not want.
Miami will have to prepare for a lot of different scenarios. While some may believe that the Redskins may be trying to “tank”, a popular opinion these days in the NFL about all teams that are winless, Callahan will most assuredly try and get his team to their first win.