A decade of coaching changes couldn’t fix the Miami Dolphins

Adam Gase

When Adam Gase was hired he was hailed as a big win for Stephen Ross and company. Gase was the young offensive genius and quarterback whisper. He would make Ryan Tannehill into anything but Ryan Tannehill.

Gase had swagger and attitude and ego. He came with high praise from Peyton Manning and others. He was the future of the franchise and after his first season that saw the Dolphins make the playoffs in 2016, the sky was the limit and the future had arrived.

Gase’s problems were many and the success in 2016 only made his ego worse. He often butted heads with general manager Chris Grier and Mike Tannenbaum. He forced his opinions on others and acted like he was the smartest man in the room at all times.

Gase’s ego turned from coaching up players to simply dismissing them when they pissed him off. He rid himself of Jay Ajayi and eventually Jarvis Landry. It would have been fine if he was winning. He wasn’t.

In 2017, he coached with Tannehill but instead of signing a quality free agent, making a trade, or giving the team over to Matt Moore, he coaxed Jay Cutler out of retirement and then continued to make a bunch of signings of players that were beyond their careers.

Cutler was the worst. He didn’t try, wouldn’t put himself in position to take a hit. He was there for the money and the team played like it.

In 2018 it all came to a climax. Stephen Ross wanted changes but also wanted to keep Gase as head coach. After a loss at Hard Rock Stadium, Ross approached Gase and was basically told to go away by the coach. That led to friction in the final weeks of the season and Ross took to the press table to announce that they were mutually parting ways.