Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hyde: Coach sets team’s culture
Dolphins owners need to know qualities they need in a leader.
Let’s look back to look ahead. When Steve Ross hired Joe Philbin, the Miami Dolphins owner said his primary consideration was how, “organized,” his new coach was during the job interview that included a power-point presentation.
When Ross hired Mike Tannenbaum as vice president of football operations, he said it was because of Tannenbaum’s success in the sports science side of the Dolphins. When Ross hired Adam Gase, it was because of his youth and inexperience — not in spite of it.
“I hired here just like in business,” Ross said of Gase in his first season. “Young. Bright. Passionate. Someone who thinks out of the box.”
The Dolphins did get all that in Gase. They also got an immature and unsteady coach whose inexperience was compounded by a weak roster he had a hand in making. Look at the recurring themes with Gase. Coaching staff issues. Trouble dealing with good players. Shifting offseason plans. And lots of excuses.
The Dolphins also got that “organized” coach in Philbin. So organized he picked up bits of litter to clean the locker room during a nota-
ble “Hard Knocks” episode, while ultimately having an ugly locker-room atmosphere with the infamous “Bullygate” chapter.
Are the right questions being asked in the Dolphins’ hiring this time around? The proper priorities given? Some past lessons learned?
Dallas defensive coach Kris Richard and Dolphins special teams coach Darren Rizzi look to be in the mix. Maybe Ross and general manager Chris Grier have someone else in mind, but with Chicago defensive coordinator Vic Fangio out of the running it looks like a decision is near.
The hope is the Dolphins learned from past mistakes. The Dolphins don’t just need a coach to fit players with schemes. Gase did that. They don’t just need organized practices and meetings. Philbin provided that.
The top two qualities should be:
This was another mistake the Dolphins made. You don’t bring in veteran players to set a culture. Underline it, sure. But setting it is the coach’s job. Think of the best leaders in South Florida sports history. Don Shula. Pat Riley. Jimmy Johnson. Jim Leyland. Erik Spoelstra. You knew their cultures. And think of the Dolphins last year. They were defined by Gase blaming bad timing for the 1-7 road record and injuries for the 7-9 season.
The Dolphins especially need this as they rebuild the roster. This gets into the intricacies of hiring the right staff, relating to players and demanding a professional standard. Ultimately, you’re not just finding players. You’re building a team.
Those two ingredients sound simple, right? So how did they get sidetracked with being “organized” and “young, bright, passionate?”
There is no one model for success for the next coach. Take this simplistic idea the Dolphins need a veteran because their past five coaches were first-time NFL coaches who haven’t won: Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Philbin and Gase.
That doesn’t stand up to the broader perspective.
Six of the eight surviving coaches in the playoffs right now are on their first team. Only New England’s Bill Belichick and Kansas City’s Andy Reid are on their second teams.
The coach doing the best turnaround job wasn’t even the top choice of his team last offseason. Frank Reich was the Indianapolis Colts’ choice only after Josh McDaniels accepted and then backed out of the job. What Reich got was a healthy Andrew Luck and a general manager Chris Ballard who made great move after great move last offseason.
There’s the real model, if you want one. A lot of these coaches could do the job if given the right ingredients.
You know who I’d call? Dabo Swinney. Maybe he loves Clemson and college football. Maybe a big contract can’t lure him to the NFL. But he checks all the boxes the Dolphins need in their rebuild.
In the past 12 months, there have been 15 NFL coaching changes. That includes Arizona twice. Changing coaches is the go-to move of teams. As is keeping general managers, considering just three have switched jobs. That’s just what the Dolphins have done, with a twist, as Grier was promoted to run the full football organization.
Grier was the most important decision Ross will make this offseason. If he’s wrong there, it won’t matter who the coach is. If Grier is the right guy, then the coach matters. And if the coach becomes the right guy, one who can lead and teach players in a manner that hasn’t happened in years.