Being 44 years old, I have lived through my share of Miami Dolphins coaching searches. Lord knows since Shula retired, there have been many of them.
With that said, I have never seen a coaching search like the one we are witnessing in 2022, though. This is the most head-scratching process I have seen an organization ever do.
Let’s start with the firing of Brian Flores. It is rare you see a head coach come off back-to-back winning seasons get let go.
Ok, the word is Brian Flores didn’t play nice in the sandbox with others and had to go. I can buy into that as being a head coach of an NFL team is a professional job where you must act professionally to your co-workers and higher-ups.
If Coach Flores wasn’t, then I can agree he had to go.
So, with Brian Flores gone, the process of replacing him begins. As I have said from the beginning, this Miami Dolphins head coaching vacancy isn’t an attractive job, and getting a quality candidate to take it will be a challenge.
Now that we are a couple of weeks in, we can see why filling this vacancy maybe even more challenging than we originally thought as more and more news begins to leak out. Let’s break down the three big reasons why.
TUA
Word came out about two weeks ago; Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported that the plan is to move forward with Tua as the quarterback for the Dolphins in 2022. That is what Chris Grier wants, and Dolphins owner Mr. Stephen Ross is ok with it.
When Coach Flores was fired and Ross met with the media, he did say, “I have no plans. It will be up to the next head coach what he does with the quarterback.”
But after a nine to ten month saga surrounding Deshaun Watson, taking these people at their word or what they say in press conferences isn’t wise.
Source with direct knowledge confirms national reports from a short time ago that the Dolphins are planning to move forward with Tua as their starter barring something unforeseen. This is what Grier wants, and Ross is fine with it.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) January 15, 2022
So, do I believe the Barry Jackson report? 100% I do.
Whether you think Tua is the next coming of Drew Brees or he is hot garbage on par with Cleo Lemon and John Beck isn’t the point here. The fact is you are looking to hire a head coach and telling him he “MUST” play this person at quarterback and are not giving him the power to make a change there if he should want to.
What NFL head coach wants to be put in this position? Most wouldn’t and only someone who is desperate to get their feet wet as an NFL head coach for the first time would agree to such a thing.
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DEFENSIVE COACHING STAFF
As the Dolphins have narrowed down their list of candidates to three (Kellen Moore, Mike McDaniels, and Brian Daboll) and are looking to set up second interviews with them the week of January 31st, an interesting report came from Cameron Wolfe of the NFL Network. (UPDATE: Since this article was published Brian Daboll has accepted the head coaching job for the New York Giants and is no longer in consideration in Miami)
That the Miami Dolphins want to keep most of their defensive assistant coaches from this past season. Which will, in fact, prevent the next Miami Dolphins head coach from having the ability to build his own staff and bring in his own people.
Much like with Tua, the Dolphins are now telling their next head coach; here is roughly half of your coaching staff. Hope you know them, can get along with them, and can work with them.
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
Again, this is odd. Not normal. Out of the ordinary.
Why are you putting your next head coach in a situation where he is forced to work with people that he, in fact, may not want to work with or even know?
Do you see successful NFL teams do this? Of course not, and you know why? Because it won’t work.
GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS GRIER
Chris Grier has been in Miami for 20+ years (not all as the general manager), and he has been a part of a lot of losing.
Now Chris Grier is going into season 22 of being an employee of the Miami Dolphins, and whoever the new head coach that is hired isn’t coming to Miami with a “new” general manager.
They are coming to Miami with someone who is the establishment, who, like a cockroach, survives everything good or bad (mainly bad) that happens in Miami and who clearly has the ear of Stephen Ross.
If you are the next head coach of the Dolphins and in a year or two things aren’t going well, odds are you will be fired and Chris Grier won’t.
Most new head coaches want to go to a place where a new general manager is coming in at the same time. Why, you ask? Because it is a sign that both the new GM and head coach will be given time to build the team in their vision.
Right now in Miami, the Dolphins are Chris Grier’s vision, and whoever they hire as the next head coach will carry out his marching orders and have little to no say on the quarterback position or who roughly half of his coaching staff is.
UNATTRACTIVE JOB
For all of these reasons, this is why the Miami Dolphins job is unattractive to most candidates.
Hell, Dan Quin, who had interviewed with the Dolphins amongst various other teams, bowed out on Thursday from consideration. I can’t speak for the other teams that he also told “Thanks, but No Thanks” to, but for the Dolphins, I can see why.
Who in their right mind would want to come to an organization to be a robot and have little say? Quinn probably felt it was better to stay a coordinator for a year and look for a better opportunity to be the head coach next offseason.
I know the IDC (Internet Dolphins Community) gets all bothered when I say this job isn’t attractive, and they point to salary cap space and no state taxes in Florida. This is all fine and good, but that is not what head coaches are looking at in evaluating an NFL head coaching job in the big picture.
The salary cap isn’t real; you can easily create salary-cap space. Plus, that is a short-term reason. You may have no salary cap space in year one but a ton in year two.
Also, the no state taxes thing is fine for a player who has a small window for being a player and who needs to maximize every penny they can during their playing days. For a head coach, you can work into your 70’s. The time frame of an NFL coach is much longer. They will get many more paychecks and contracts, so losing a bit more to taxes isn’t a factor at all.
Also, on a side note, why did the Dolphins essentially take a full week off during this process? This past week the week of January 24th, the Dolphins met with no candidates and held no second interviews. They could have easily met with Kellen Moore, and Brian Daboll as both of their teams are out of the playoffs.
Everything about this 2022 head coaching search in Miami is just weird. From how it started to where we are today. Every bit of news that leaks out is something out of the ordinary and doesn’t make this job look all that appealing.
It’s no wonder the list of three candidates the Dolphins want second interviews with all have no previous head coaching experience. And outside of Daboll with the Giants, have no other teams knocking down their doors with offers.
At this point, Dolphins fans can just hope for the best and hope to get lucky in that whoever is ultimately hired is the right man for the job. As fans of the team, that is all we can do, but we can also admit that this process hasn’t been normal in any way, shape, or form.
If only the fans could fire Ross & Grier things would be a lot better. Makes me sick those two clowns are in control of the team. They’ve both ruined this franchise and made millions in the process laughing their way to the bank at the fans expense. Miami has no shot with them in charge how many times do we need to see this crap play out like Groundhog Day.
Tua will be the 2022 QB. They don’t want to invest in a QB again until they see Tua with a better line, scheme and ground game. That said, they will draft another QB in 2023 if Tua doesn’t prove himself in 2022.
Stephen Ross is the problem. He needs to hang it up and either sale the team or he needs to walk away and pay someone younger that knows what he’s doing. Also fire the cockroach Grier and clean house. Flores needed to be fired. Comes in acting like Belichek with a big F***ing head . I say fire them all and get a new owner. Only then will dolphins fans be satisfied
Grier IS the problem. But Ross can’t fire 2 persons of color. He’s all in on the Rooney Rule. The fact that Grier has hoodwinked Ross all this time is disturbing and as long as Grier is here,this franchise will be a laughingstock. And yes,I go back as far as 1965 when the franchise was awarded.
I love the dolphins, but who would want to take a job knowing there is a 98% chance you’ll be fired in 3 years, and the one thing that has plagued the dolphins for years is the fact that we cant get good assistants. what quality assistant would hitch there wagon to a brand new HC with a 3 year window, who would want to move their family for such an uncertain future….Here’s how to fix this team. go see sean payton, offer him the Gruden deal, 10 years $100,000,000.00 no cut grantee. give him final say on all football issues…..now you have stability and credibility….
Hold out for Harbaugh
This team is dysfunctional! Grier’s firing is long overdue. Ross has no business owning an NFL franchise. Sadly, we the fans have no control over these issues. Or do we?