If Stephen Ross Wants Things To Change He Has To Change

If Stephen Ross Wants Things To Change He Has To Change

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has been the owner of the team for 16-17 years now, and the product on the field has been the biggest disappointment. The biggest reason is the revolving door at the head coach and general manager. When you change the regime, they want to do things differently, and they must inherit what they have, and it takes time.

He has also hired coaches, such as Joe Philbin and Adam Gase, who weren’t cut out to be head coaches. Mike McDaniel’s tenure started out great, but it has fizzled and is showing that he isn’t a good head coach, especially when things don’t go well, and he and his team make the same mistakes repeatedly. Ross has also hired GMs who weren’t cut out, such as Dennis Hickey. 

One of the biggest reasons for this revolving door is that Ross hasn’t brought in a new coach or GM together. Every time he has a chance to, he wants the GM to work with the current head coach and vice versa. The problem with that is you’re tying your potential candidates with one hand tied behind their backs. This is especially true with the GM position.  

After the 2013 season, Ross fired then-GM Jeff Ireland and conducted a search for a new GM. He even offered the job to at least 3 people, including Nick Caserio and Eric De Costa, but both guys turned the job down because Ross wanted them to work with Philbin as their coach. Both guys wanted to bring in their own coach but weren’t going to be given the power to do so and turned the job down.

De Costa, who was promoted to GM with the Baltimore Ravens after Ozzie Newsome retired, has continued to build the Ravens into contenders year after year. Caserio left the New England Patriots to become GM of the Houston Texans and has built a good roster, especially on defense.

The Dolphins hired Hickey as GM because he was willing to work with Philbin, but Hickey was fired two years later after Ross hired Mike Tannenbaum to run the football operation and Chris Grier as GM to have final say on the draft, and then Gase as HC.  

Then, 3 years later, Ross fired Tannenbaum and Gase but kept Grier to run the football operations. They then hired Brian Flores as HC, and he did some good things as HC, but had personality issues with Grier and Ross, so he was fired, and Grier stayed. Ross then hired McDaniel as HC, and after back-to-back playoff seasons in 2022 and 2023, things have gone downhill and have pretty much hit rock bottom as the Dolphins are set for another rebuild. So, Ross, a couple of weeks ago, fired Grier, and he is keeping McDaniel for at least the rest of the season. 

The thing is, it was reported that Ross would like to keep McDaniel as his HC because he thinks he has found the right coach. Ross is delusional on a couple of fronts here. One, he’s not seeing what everyone else is seeing. The team’s performance has declined under McDaniel. Teams have caught up to his offensive scheme, and he hasn’t adjusted.

He also changed defensive coordinators for three out of his four years, just like Flores did with offensive coordinators during his three years. The team is lacking discipline and leadership under his watch. He makes the same stupid mistakes every year, such as not getting the play in on time, wasting challenges that he can’t win, not committing to the running game like he should, and not using his personnel correctly.

Those are just a few things. The team also doesn’t show up against playoff-caliber teams. The team has only beaten the Buffalo Bills once since he has been the head coach, and I don’t see that changing this Sunday. 

The second and final point is what makes Ross think he is going to get a good GM candidate to accept this job if they are told that they must keep McDaniel as HC, because nobody is going to accept the job. A new GM is going to want to bring in their own HC and their own football staff in the front office.

If this happens, I don’t think anybody, including myself, is going to have any confidence in this team beyond this year that things will change because it’s going to be the same old thing, and Ross is going to see the same thing as he has in previous years, that he has had a chance to make wholesale changes. 

If Ross really wants to change, then he must look himself in the mirror on this one and realize that he must change and allow a new GM to decide McDaniel’s fate and let them pick the new HC.

Ross obviously would have input, but he should let his GM make the call, and he should be involved in the process, but cede the power because what he is doing isn’t working. The thing is, would Ross come to that conclusion? Or is there somebody in his circle of support whom he trusts that would tell him that?  

Ross is a real estate man and very successful, and owns a football team that he isn’t actively involved with on the day-to-day operations. He lets his football people make the decisions, except letting the GM hire and fire the coach, and he spares no expense in bringing in players and giving big contracts.

A new GM would like that in an owner and has an open checkbook policy, but a good GM candidate is going to be turned away if he can’t make the final call on his head coach. Ross can’t hire a yes man, like Grier; he must hire a football guy that he can trust and make the decisions that are best for the football team, including choosing his head coach. 

Ross owns the team and can do as he pleases with it, as that’s his right. However, at some point, he has to realize that certain things need to change. Tying his new GM to an HC and vice versa is the one main thing he needs to do.