After "watching" the Dolphins blow their 15 point lead with 2:44 left in the game last night, I woke up this morning still shaking my head in disbelief. The I started reading some of the post game threads here and the posts within them and it occurred to me. Post Joe Robbie, our team has gone from a football organization to a business and the two business owners, Wayne Huizenga and Stephen Ross have made BUSINESS decisions and not FOOTBALL decisions. As a result, our team has continuosly gone downhill. 1995: Following a disappointing '95 season, the Dolphins hold a press conference in which Don Shula stated he "agreed to step aside". Agreed to step aside? Sounds to me like Huizenga fired the winningest coach in NFL history. 1996: Huizenga announces the hiring of former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson. Johnson has spent the previous two years as an analyst for Fox Sports prior to being hired by Miami. Johnson was given full control of football personnel in light of his resume of two previous Super Bowl championships. Johnson having the all time passing leader in Dan Marino was to rebuild the team's defense and return Miami to its glory days, but the only thing that returned were ticket sales. A strained relationship with Dan Marino and disappointing expectations led to Jimmy Johnson resigning in 1999 and turning the team over to his former defensive coordinator in Dallas and recently fired Chicago Bears head coach Dave Wandstadt. 2000: Dave Wannstadt assumes head coaching duties from Jimmy Johnson. Wannstadt having been the previous failed head coach of the Chicago Bears was promoted to head coach by Huizenga instead of finding a replacement for Johnson. Miami had just came off of the second worst playoff defeat in NFL history, losing the Jacksonville, 62-7, it was felt that Wannstadt could improve upon what had been built. Unfortunately with the resignation of Johnson, came the retirement of Marino and Wannstadt brought in former Jacksonville back up Jay Fiedler as starting QB. Wannstadt''s first two season's led to playoff appearances, but quickly dwindled (as did ticket sales), culminating in his resignation during the 2004 season after the Dolphins were 1-8. 2005: In another high profile coaching hire designed to draw ticket sales, Wayne Huizenga pandered to, and hired a reluctant Nick Saban, the head coach of the former National Champion LSU Tigers as the Dolphins head coach. Dolphins fans were estatic and once again, ticket sales rose in hopes that Saban would bring his magic with him to south Florida. Duirng Saban's tenure, a controversial free agency move was made in 2006 when both Daunte Culpepper and Drew Brees were available. Both having just had season ending surgeries on the knee and shoulder respectively, Miami signed Culpepper, citing a knee injury is of less concern for a QB than a shoulder injury. Culpepper still not 100% was put in the game after pressure to see our newly aquired QB however, Culpepper's knee was reinjured and was sidelined for the season. During the season, rumors began to surface Nick Saban would be leaving Miami to become the head coach of Alabama. Saban emphatically denied these rumors, only to validate them at the end of the season by resigning and taking over at Alabama. Recently however, it's been learned that Nick Saban wanted Drew Brees when he was available during free agency, but was overruled by Wayne Huizenga and signed Cupepper instead. Another example of a business decision instead of a football decision. 2007: Following the abrupt departure of Nick Saban, whose heart was never really in to coming to the NFL to begin with, Huizenga looked west for a new coach, hiring San Diego offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. Cameron, having provided the explosive offensive powerhouse in San Diego under Marty Schottenheimer was seen as the promise to bring explosive offensive plays back to Miami. The problem however was Cameron assumed duties as both head coach and offensive coordinator, a daunting task for a 1st time NFL head coach. With the loss of Duante Culpepper, Miami signed veteran Trent Green from Kansas City to manage Cameron's offense however with Green going down with a concussion, QB duties fell on Cleo Lemon, a former back up from San Diego whom many felt would be able to handle the teams offense having been with Cameron in San Diego. Disasterous!! To this date, the 2007 is the worst record in Miami Dolphins hostory, posting a dismal 1-15 record. 2008: The Dolphins FINALLY seem to be getting on track, right? Wayne Huizenga reaches out to footballl legend Bill Parcells, hiring him to be the Executive Vice President of Football Operations and charged with essentially turning the Dolphins around...and on the surface it seems to be a good plan. Parcells brings in "Parcells men", Jeff ireland, Tony Sparano and surprisingly, QB Chad Pennington who played under Parcells when he coached the Jets. The beginning of the season seems dismal. Another typical rebuilding year it appears but suddenly the Wildcat is unveiled and Miami takes the league by storm culminating in the Dolphins first trip to the playoffs since 2002. fans are estatic, ticket sales are up, Pennington, brown and Williams jerseys fly off the shelves. Money's coming in hand over fist. Unfortunately, this is an election year and the writing is on the walll for Huizenga who feels if Barack Obama is elected President, his tax burden will become such that continued ownership of the team will be financially unwise. Huizenga sells all but 5% of the team to Stephen Ross. 2009-Present: Stephen Ross, a New York real estate mogul urges Parcells to stay, even though Parcells has a clause in his contract allowing him to opt out and still collect salary should Huizenga sell the team. Attempting to build on their repeat of the greatest single season turn around in NFL history, the Dolphins Wildcat is quickly defanged and declawed with the Dolphins only able to manage a 7-9 season. Rumors quickly spread Parcells is leaving the team. In an effort to boost ticket sales, Stephen Ross sells minority ownership of the Dolphins to such celebrities as Fergie, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony and tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams. Ross doing all he can to bolster sagging ticket sales. 2010 sees Parcells retreating to a consulting position, leaving the team's future in the hands of Irealnd and Sparano, again only able to manage a 7-9 season. To date, the Dolphins are well on their way to a repeat of 2007. Instead of focusing on the needs of the team, Ross in an effort to boost ticket sales holds a Gator Appreciation Day, honoring the Florida Gators 2008 National Championship title....which the QB of the Gators is the newly named starting QB of the very team we play that evening. I'm sure I've missed ownership blunders here, and those who spot them are free to fill in the misses, but it's safe to say that since the passing of Joe Robbie, our ownership knows as much about football as I know quantum physics. They aren't football men, they're business men and unless Ross quickly becomes a football man...or sells the Dolphins to a football man, we're going to continue having blunders and misfires, becoming perinneal cellar dwellars such at eh Oakland Raiders
This is not an ownership blunder, and Shula would surely have retired by now (voluntarily, in his own time, as he deserved), but I can't help but wonder if this decline and fall wouldn't have been slowed, or prevented altogether, if Shula had not been fired. Say what you will about his personnel-selecting deficiencies, but he knew how to motivate, prepare and coach a team.
The biggest blunder is that the fans still support this franchise after 20 years of garbage play. When JJ arrived in 1995 he should have just cleaned house and started fresh, and yes I am including Marino in that proposition...
Well, you forgot that Ross thinks that JLo and Fergie's azzes would put more butts in the seats, that he wooed a HC candidate (and failed) without firing the actual HC and that he convinced the NFL brass that the Sept/Oct game times at JRS (or if you prefer, the stadium formerly known as JRS) needed to be changed because 'fans' wanted it ?? The one home field advantage we had left since leaving the OB and he thinks that made things better for his team ??
Can we stop with this BS? Home games have started at 4 for a few years before Ross got here, and last I checked, your argument is invalid as yesterdays game was at 1PM. We haven't had homefield advantage in ages, this team implodes at home and on D every chance they get. In fact we look more winded in the 4th quarter in the heat than those northern teams.
Frankly, this teams demise started under Jimmy Johnson. He was always wishy-washy about wanting to come and be our coach. His heart was never in it. Since then the coaching on this team has been bad to say the least. But the single biggest problem has been the abject failure of this team, doesn't matter who's been in charge, to draft a legitimate franchise Qb. The worst part is not that they have swung and missed (it happens), but that they haven't even picked up the damn bat. Nearly as bad was the ridicuolus drafting from 2000-2007. Unbeleivably bad drafts, only what 2-3 guys on the team from that period. These are the guys who should be making up the veteran core of this team and we have basically nothing to show for those 8 years. I will give credit to the FO we have now because I do believe this team has some good ball players on it, unlike 2007 when it was abundantly clear that the team was devoid of talent whatsoever at nearly every position. I just can't believe how badly this team has fallen this year, there is no heart in them. No fire, No pride. And that is clearly on the coaching staff. Consider this, if they fire Sparano mid-season, who do you promote to take over? Nolan - heck no even with his head coaching experience. His defense is one of the largest reasons this team is in the 0-6 tank. Daboll - no, just no. Who's left that has ANY head-coaching experience? Karl Dorrell? We're in a heck of jam at his point, Sparano should be fired but we have no one to replace him.
I only half jokingly wonder if Ross is truly a Jets fan who found himself with billions, and decided to buy the Dolphins simply to wreck them. Only half joking!
I suspect that the 4pm/bubble argument is a textbook case of correlation vs. causation. Heat and humidity only become relevant factors when you do not/cannot prepare for them adequately. Today, you can and teams/athletes do. Compared to the 1990s, performance diagnostics have made a quantum leap; it's perfectly possible (and not particularly complicated) to prepare your body for extreme activities in a hot and humid climate without ever setting foot there. The problem with our home field advantage is that it is entirely preparation based: You don't have to be used to the conditions, not anymore. You can prepare for them and prepare well. In contrast, cold weather teams still do have a tangible advantage because the possibilities to prepare for, say, unpredictable wind conditions are pretty limited. One could, in fact, argue that the Dolphins have a competitive disadvantage by now. While opponents can prepare for the South Florida heat and humidity quite as well as the Dolphins can, they don't have to play eight games there, significantly reducing conditioning issues as the season progresses.
I look at it this way, Ross inherited this FO and the Parcells legacy. Now Ross will make moves and see what happens, you can't blame ownership for bringing in highly respected football people and them failing to do what they are suppose to do very well. Ross may not have handled the Jim Harbaugh episode well, but he certainly was aiming high so lets see what he does when the time comes. If Rome was built in a day, I'm sure Ross would try to hire the contractor, all the guys that run this team thought we were a few players away from contending, the fact is that the number one priority for any team was never addressed "Franchise QB". Now I like Hene but he couldn't get it done so whoever comes in needs to address the QB problem and rebuild the team and we can contend again. This will take time and fans need to accept it.
The team did indeed start going downhill with the death of Joe Robbie, but not because Huizenga made business decisions. It was because Huizenga didn't know jack about football. Neither does Ross.
