Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
RESET BUTTON
Dolphins fire Gase, start from scratch with a new brain trust
Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross is basically starting from scratch. The Dolphins fired coach Adam Gase, promoted Chris Grier and reassigned Mike Tannenbaum on Monday after the team’s blowout loss to the Bills in Buffalo in Sunday’s season finale.
In his three seasons, Gase led Miami to a 23-25 regular-season record and one playoff appearthings ance in 2016, his first season with the team. Grier, who has served as Miami’s general manager, will oversee football operations while Tannenbaum, the team’s previous vice president of football operations, has been reassigned.
Grier, who just completed his 19th season with the Dolphins and third as the team’s GM, will report directly to Ross and be charged with hiring a head coach.
“It’s probably one of the toughest decisions I’ve made. I really like Adam. He’s a great guy; he worked his tail off. Unfortunately, didn’t go the way we all hoped,” Ross said. “I didn’t make a decision until probably last night after our game thinking about it.
“The decision was made, as I looked it and seeing today we’re no further along than when I bought the team. We’ve been operating under a philosophy we had a good, young roster and needed free agents and draft choices and we’d be very competitive. To keep operating under that philosophy is really the definition of insanity — doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
“So I thought it was time for the organization to take a different approach — much like when I do in my business,” Ross continued. “Everything I’ve done, we’ve always been the best in class and on top, and that’s what I expect to be on the football field as well as an organization.”
Grier was appointed general manager on Jan. 4, 2016 after spending the previous nine years
as the team’s director of college scouting. Before that, Grier served as an area scout with the club from 2000-02, before being promoted to national scout/assistant director of college scouting in 2003.
“He’s probably one of the most respected people in the NFL,” Ross said of Grier. “A lot of people really haven’t dealt with him. He’s been a guy behind the scenes in making a lot of the personnel decisions, but not leading the organization. Chris will have total responsibly in leading the organization. He will work together with the new coach, make all football decisions and report to me.”
Grier said the process of finding a coach will begin “immediately,” and added that the new coach would not need to have prior head-coaching experience in the NFL.
“I don’t think so. You can’t rule out anything,” Grier said. “There’s good football coaches — pro and college — and I think we’re going to investigate every avenue. For us, the important thing will be finding the guy that believes in some of the same things I do in terms of building a team. I’m also flexible enough that if he presents his ideas and we think it’s good, it’s going to [be] a collaboration with everything we do still. I know we talk about having control and I’m over it, but it’s not going to work if he and I don’t share a vision to implement that plan.”
The Dolphins have requested permission to interview New England Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy , and Pittsurgh Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak, according to multiple reports.
Miami lost its final three games of the season and produced a 1-7 record on the road, getting outscored by an average of 15.3 points in those contests.
Dolphins players were given numerous opportunities to give Gase, 12th head coach in team history, a vote of confidence after Sunday’s blowout and many declined to comment. Some players who wished to not be identified went as far as to say they wouldn’t return if Gase was retained, and tailback Kenyan Drake had privately expressed a desire to be traded.
Pass rusher Cameron Wake, a five-time Pro Bowl pick who has been part of the Dolphins’ organization since 2009, was asked four times if Gase should be brought back and refused to weigh in.
While the Dolphins went 10-6 and reached the playoffs in 2016 — the first season Gase, Tannenbaum and Grier were at the helm of the franchise — before being eliminated by the Pittsburgh Steelers, they were unable to sustain their success the past two seasons.
The Dolphins finished 7-9 in 2018 after Sunday’s 42-17 blowout road loss to the Bills, a slight improvement to the 6-10 record Miami had in 2017.
“The biggest thing we’ve had — we went 10-6, had the injuries, then suffered 6-10 and 7-9. It’s consistency and knowing who you want to be. We’ve always talked about what kind of team you want to be,” Grier said. “There’s times you get caught up in some things where you may sign something or stray from that. But if you have a vision in what your team wants to be, you stay with it and build it the right way. You build winners in this league and guys have shown that across the board.”
The biggest misstep of the past few years Dolphins may have been failing to draft a quarterback to compete with starter Ryan Tannehill, who missed 25 games due to injuries the past three seasons.
Gase, considered an offensive guru of sorts after working as Peyton Manning’s offensive coordinator in Denver, was unable to recreate his offensive prowess with Tannehill in Miami. The Dolphins finished this season ranked 31st in the NFL in yards gained for the first time in franchise history with Gase serving as offensive play-caller.
When asked whether Tannehill would be part of the Dolphins next season, Grier said, “Yeah, because right now he’s on the roster. Again, the next head coach is going to come in and he’ll evaluate the roster ... We’ll work through that once that guy’s hired.”
The Dolphins did not specify what job Tannenbaum was being transferred into.