The Dolphins have been on this rookie head coach carousal for the past decade and a half. Now, we are on the Flores experiment. I tried to think of the previous inexperienced Dolphins head coaches in recent years (I went ahead and excluded 2007’s Cam Cameron. He was only here for a year so there was no point trying to do a comparison analysis on him.) But I did do the other four; starting with Nick Saban to Adam Gase. In the chart below, I will include some simple stuff like their records in addition to home records and away records but I also have what I call a competitive games record. Basically, what that is, I went game by game over the last 15 years and any team that had a better record or the same record as the Dolphins did at the time they played each other.
Nick Saban (2005-2006 full seasons)
2005 record: 9-7
Home record: 5-3
Away record: 4-4
Competitive Games Record: 6-5
Point average based off wins: 8.56
Point average based off losses: 10.86
2006 record: 6-10
Home record: 4-4
Away record: 2-6
Competitive Games Record: 5-9
Point Average based off wins: 11
Point Average based off losses: 9.9
Teams that the Dolphins struggled against at the time: Buffalo Bills with a record of 1-3.
Saban split the games with Mike Mularkey-led Bills in 2005. When the Bills let him go, he would end up being Saban’s offensive coordinator in 2006. Saban is the only coach in this rollercoaster of coaches to do well against the Bill Belicheck-led Patriots. He broke even with them in his two seasons in Miami.
Tony Sparano (2008-2011; 13 games in 2011)
2008 record: 11-6(including postseason loss)
Home record: 5-4
Away record: 6-2
Competitive Games Record(including the playoff loss): 4-5
Point Average based off wins: 8.18
Point Average based off losses: 13.34
2009 record: 7-9
Home record: 4-4
Away record: 3-5
Competitve Games Record: 6-7
Point Average based off wins: 7.29
Point Average based off losses: 9
2010 record: 7-9
Home record: 1-7
Away record: 6-2
Competitive Games Record: 5-5
Point Average based off wins: 7.43
Point Average based off losses: 12.44
2011 season record: 4-9 record
Home record: 3-4
Away record: 1-5
Competitive Games Record: 4-9 (the whole 2011 season with Sparano)
Point Average based off wins: 21.5
Point Average based off losses: 8.44
I wrote an article on Tony Sparano back in December and I just want to talk a little bit more about him here. He was the most offensively improved coach we have had in this trend and tied with Joe Philbin for the most defensively improved. He holds the best coaching record during his time in Miami at 27-33 which also includes the 2008 postseason loss. He holds the record for winning the most games on the road which happens to be in the plus column (16-14 record). He also holds the record for the most competitive games at 19-26. The one caveat with him is he probably struggled the most when it came to competition as his record against the Patriots was 2-5. He was 1-2 against the then-San Diego Chargers and he could never beat the Baltimore Ravens. He had three tries. The Dolphins played them twice in 2008 and it’s worth noting that the Dolphins had home-field advantage in that postseason game. 2010 was the last time he faced them.
Joe Philbin (2012-2015; 4 games in 2015)
2012 record: 7-9
Home record: 5-3
Away record: 2-6
Competitive Games Record: 4-7
Point Average based off wins: 12.57
Point Average based off losses: 13
2013 season record: 8-8
Home record: 4-4
Away record: 4-4
Competitive Games Record: 6-3
Point Average based off wins: 7.13
Point Average based off losses: 9.38
2014 season record: 8-8
Home record: 4-4
Away record: 4-4
Competitive Games Record: 4-6
Point Average based off wins: 14.88
Point Average based off losses: 12.88
2015 season record: 1-3
Home record: 0-2
Away record: 1-1
Competitive Games Record: 1-2
Point Average based off wins: 7
Point Average based off losses: 14.33
If you are just looking at just the win-loss column, you probably do think Joe Philbin was the most struggling coach in this lineup. Where Philbin really failed was our division rivals as he tie Gase’s record against the Patriots at 2-4 but under both Rex Ryan and Todd Bowles-led Jets teams he was 3-4 all together. However, he did tie Sparano for most improve defense-led team. Ironically, the numbers were same and the instance occurred in both their second seasons with the team.
-Sparano’s 2008 team allowed their opponents average 13 points against them.
-In 2009, the average dropped to 9.
-Philbin’s 2012 team, the average based on losses was 13 and dropped the following season to 9.
Adam Gase 2016-2018 (three full seasons)
2016 season record: 10-7 (including the postseason loss)
Home record: 6-2
Away record: 4-5( including the playoff loss)
Competitive Games Record: 3-6
Point Average based off wins: 7.3
Point Average based off losses: 15.43
2017 season record: 6-10
Home record:4-4
Away record: 2-6
Competitive Games Record: 3-5
Point Average based off wins: 7.83
Point Average based off losses: 15.9
2018 season record: 7-9
Home record: 6-2
Away record: 1-7
Competitive Games Record: 4-3
Point Average based off wins: 5.43
Point Average based off losses: 16.89
Adam Gase won 75% of the time while at home with a 16-8 record overall. He tied Philbin’s record against the New England Patriots at 2-4. But, he also could never beat the Cincinnati Bengals. He lost by 15 the first quarter of the 2016 season to them and well…you all know what happened in 2018. Gase is the only Dolphins rookie head at this point that led the team to a steady defensive decline all three years. Not surprising since he never had a experienced defensive coordinator to help him out all three seasons in Miami.
Take what you want from these stats but if history is any indication Brian Flores should at least fare better against his former team the New England Patriots. I’m curious to see what mark he leaves on this franchise. Will he get 3 years or more? 5? Or will he turn out to be the next Cam Cameron who gets the boot? Buckle up, my fellow Dolphin fans. We are about to find out!
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Interesting, you left off the record of the Monkey at the top of the tree.
Are we really in a rebuild? Everyone is forgetting the owner. I always thought we need a new owner to kick this rebuild off.
This brings back a lot of bad Memories. Especially Nick Sabin, he lead the Fans to think he was a long term coach and slipped out the back door and left to Alabama. This is what I remember.
At the end of the day, you have to put the Owner/Owners at fault. I honestly believe if the Dolphins was a average Corporation they would have folded years ago. Thank god they’re a member of the NFL. Its been very sad to watch a Dolphin game and not see but half the Stadium is full of Fans.
Does Mr. Ross understand? I think so.
I feel your pain. With the hiring Flores hire, it brought up some interesting parallels for me and that was the inspiration behind this article. Saban, who was the last defensive-oriented coach we had in this whole trend is also a protege of Belicheck which is what Flores is. Second, Ross kept Ireland for the first two years of the Philbin regime before letting him go. Now, he has kept Grier. This all leads me to conclude that this regime won’t last beyond two years if history is any indication.