Miami Dolphins reportedly telling prospective coaches they have no say
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are still a mess. Stephen Ross isn’t winning over fans and Chris Grier isn’t making new ones either. Now, the head coaching search takes another twist.
If you have been miserably following along with our coverage of the Miami Dolphins “pong” tournament, or their head coaching search, you will know that we have gone from Jim Harbaugh to Brian Daboll to Mike McDaniel, back to Harbaugh and then to Vance Joseph.
Earlier today, Ian Rapoport said that the Dolphins will not conduce 2nd interviews until next week. Another report has surfaced that Brian Daboll is in Miami today and may be mulling over an offer from the Dolphins. But it is the latest from Cameron Wolfe that can’t be tossed away.
If he is correct and there is no reason to believe he isn’t, the Dolphins are being, well, the Dolphins.
One thing I’ve been told to watch whenever Dolphins officially hire their new coach — they want to keep most of their defensive assistant coaching staff. They feel they are close on that side of the ball and have spoke with candidates about that.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) January 27, 2022
The Dolphins have reportedly told potential coaches that they want Tua Tagovailoa to the be the team’s 2022 starter. Beyond that, we don’t know. It is never ideal to force a QB on a new head coach who will then put his career in the hands of someone he doesn’t want. But an entire defensive staff?
Imagine being a coaching candidate and then being told that you can’t hire your own defensive team. Miami believing that they are “close” on the defensive side of the ball only sets up the new HC for more failure. Not only are you telling that guy he has no control over the QB or the roster but he has no control over his own staff either.
This is a perfect way to set up internal issues before ever getting started. This is a situation that is begging for failure before putting your foot in the door. If I were a head coach candidate and was told that I couldn’t, or strongly recommended to me that I shouldn’t change staff, I would turn around and walk out the door.
Any smart HC would not put up with this if it is true and if that is the case, then the Dolphins should just offer the job to anyone who would take it. The next HC may not have a choice in the QB this year, that I can understand but if he can’t bring in his own staff or at the very least have the option to, there is a problem.
The Dolphins do have several defensive coaches that should be retained and Josh Boyer should be one that is strongly considered by no GM should be pushing that on a coaching hire, at all.