The Miami Dolphins' futility over the last two decades has been well-chronicled. The dead horse has not only been beaten — it's been pulverized to dust. As much as fans wish that the cringeworthy "quarter century without a playoff win" stat was false, it's reality until someone changes it. Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley represent the latest beacon of hope, and while we're admittedly in the honeymoon phase, the early results have fans optimistic.
Over the course of the offseason, Jeff Hafley has done a bunch of interviews with a variety of pundits. It's his way of introducing himself to Miami, as he was largely an unknown entity in the community before his hiring. Mike McDaniel went on a similar media tour, while his predecessors, Brian Flores and Adam Gase, were a little more isolated in their introductions.
His latest appearance with Miami sports media legend Dan Le Batard offered an hour-long insight into the new head man in charge. Over the course of the interview, Hafley was asked about a hypothetical "football crisis" in which he had no idea how to handle it. Who would his first call be in such a scenario? The answer he gave is likely to invoke certain mustache-themed nightmares in longtime Dolphins fans.
"It depends situationally — it could be a couple of football guys. Dave Wannstedt would be one of them. He's a guy that I lean on heavily, talk to weekly. [He's] been through it, was a head coach — really, one of my biggest mentors. He's the first one that jumps into my mind so he'd probably be my first call."
Jeff Hafley's mentor being a former (failed) coach of the Dolphins could scare some, though it shouldn't
Dave Wannstedt was the coach of the Dolphins from 2000 to 2004. Things started encouragingly enough. The last time the Dolphins won a playoff game was in the Wild Card round of the 2000 season under Wannstedt. Their winning formula in that game was handing the ball to Lamar Smith a whopping 40 times, where he churned out 209 yards and two TDs.
Alas, it was fool's gold. Despite ensuing winning seasons of 11, nine, and 10 wins, the Dolphins were unable to make any more noise in the playoffs. The defensive-minded coach's allergy to throwing the football was a recurring stick in the craw of fans at the time. That frustration boiled over with a disastrous 1–8 start in 2004, which ultimately led to Wannstedt's ouster, and the subsequent two decades of folly bring us to the present day.
The Dolphins' newest head coach got his big-time college football break under Wannstedt at the University of Pittsburgh. Beginning as a graduate assistant from 2006 to 2008, before working his way up to defensive backs coach from 2008 to 2010, Hafley understandably holds Wannstedt in high regard.
If history has shown us anything, perhaps it's that Wannstedt shouldn't have such a bad rap among Dolphins fans. He accomplished what seven others have tried and failed to do. Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and Mike McDaniel had a collective 21 seasons to win a playoff game, and none could.
While the knee-jerk reaction to hearing that Hafley's mentor is a former Dolphins head coach might be a concern, maybe it shouldn't be. Wannstedt cleared the admittedly low bar of achieving the most success of any Dolphins head coach since Hall of Famers Don Shula and Jimmy Johnson.
Here's to hoping he doesn't convince Hafley to adopt his offensive approach, though — De'Von Achane may not survive a 40-carries-a-game workload.
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