Darlington explaining more on Aponte & the good opportunity the new GM has

[NRA]

I'm also not understanding the shots made at Aponte she seems to do well at her job & is highly respected.

because she back stabbed her way out of her last job in cleveland.

go to the browns board and mention her. they hold her in the regards we do wanny except wanny was a good guy, she has the rep of not being a great person.

smoke and fire man.

 

[Smith21]

Maybe a little more "jack" might have kept Jake Wrong and filled arguably our biggest hole for a large part of the season. Is that the Dawn? We did try to re-sign him.

He took less money to play somewhere else. He didn't want to be here. Point blank, nobody's fault - maybe it was Jeff Ireland's for just being Jeff Ireland though...

 

[Atila]

Yeah the "management structure" in Miami is getting way too much publicity. Truth be told, not a single one of us, and apparently none of the reporters, have any clue what the structure of the team is.

It sounds like the GM for the Dolphins will work... exactly like the GM for 95% of the teams in the NFL. This report is being overblown and exaggerated. Imagine that.

 

[thefranchisedef]

We barely missed the playoffs, have great cap space, a young promising qb, great pass defense. Sorry if I don't understand why a person would want a raise or promotion. The media makes People are dumb.

 

[NorthernFin]

He took less money to play somewhere else. He didn't want to be here. Point blank, nobody's fault - maybe it was Jeff Ireland's for just being Jeff Ireland though...

I'm pretty sure he took more money to leave Miami. He also got hurt again this year. Blew his knee out I think? I was a huge Jake Long fan, but the dude couldn't stay healthy and I think Miami did the right thing. They offered him a decent contract, but he chose to go.

 

[spiketex]

I am not sure what you are asking...

I am stunned that so many are defending the idea of keeping anyone around with this organization even it meant possibly losing out on Grand Slam GM candidate. Stunned.

FYI, Dawn Aponte has not been around for one...count them...one winning season. For that matter, Joe has never been above .500. Nobody...executive, coach or player is that important to the team. I would not let anything stop me for getting a talented executive to chart the course for my team's future.

Hayden - I simply don't understand your intense dislike of Dawn Aponte. She is clearly brilliant with degrees in law, finance and accounting. She has a juris doctorate, is a member of the New York Bar and is also a CPA. She has made her career in the NFL and she is an expert at negotiating with the players' agents. Her job is to manage the salary cap and she is regarded as one of the best in that capacity. She is clearly a confidante of Stephen Ross and Joe Philbin. She runs the Miami Dolphin football administration and from all accounts runs it like a total professional.

Are you a misogynist who can't accommodate strong successful intelligent women or is it because she supports Coach Philbin in trying to improve the team or option (c) all of the above?

 

[HoneyB]

This all comes down to management structure. Different types of management structures have different implications and require people with different skill sets. It seems as if Ireland didn't have authority to evaluate and fire Philbin and was strictly responsible for the roster. Somehow the Cap specialist also didn't report to him either and it seems like 3 people had Ross's ear Aponte, Ireland, and Philbin. This management structure requires an owner who knows football as the owner needs to weed through all of the bull crap being fed to him by the coach, GM, and aponte and determine who is performing and who isn't.

I think you're right on this, because it sounds like my office. Corporate politics. We have one owner (like Ross), who has his own inner circle (with lawyers and guys like Peterson), and beyond that circle is the executive ring, and below that are the positions which oversee and manage the daily functions of the business (like Aponte and Ireland), and then below that are site managers who handle the worker bees and put out fires on an hourly basis, and have less contact with the owner (Philbin and Sherman). What happens in my business, is that the power structure shifts periodically, depending on who has favor with the owner, and who has screwed up recently, either because of their own ineptitude, or because someone else has set them up to look bad. I won't compare our owner to Ross, because I think Ross is a winner, and my owner is reactionary. But Ross, a successful guy, is at a disadvantage because he doesn't know the football business and has been forced to get more and more involved to fix the problems in the organization.

I would have preferred a clean sweep. But this is an opportunity for a good GM to come in here and fix things, and gain Ross's trust back (after Ireland lost it), and be able to run the show. I know that the GM is being told that Philbin stays. But any smart person realizes that this is a year to year business, and if the Dolphins can't win more games this season, and there is no glaring mistake by the new GM, then it is Philbin who is out the door, not the GM. So I think the GM is in a good position here. The one that's not so appealing is the new OC, who has a lame duck coach. It could be Deboll all over again.

But ultimately, I believe it's about people, not positions. The talent resides with people. A great GM could straighten this franchise out, and similarly, an exciting, creative OC could propel the team forward. The mediocrity of Joe Philbin can actually be saved by filling these positions.

 

[HoneyB]

Hayden - I simply don't understand your intense dislike of Dawn Aponte. She is clearly brilliant with degrees in law, finance and accounting. She has a juris doctorate, is a member of the New York Bar and is also a CPA. She has made her career in the NFL and she is an expert at negotiating with the players' agents. Her job is to manage the salary cap and she is regarded as one of the best in that capacity. She is clearly a confidante of Stephen Ross and Joe Philbin. She runs the Miami Dolphin football administration and from all accounts runs it like a total professional.

Are you a misogynist who can't accommodate strong successful intelligent women or is it because she supports Coach Philbin in trying to improve the team or option (c) all of the above?

I agree there's a lot of misogyny regarding Aponte, and the pro-Ireland factions that feed Armando information are looking to point the finger of blame somewhere. I don't know her, and am not privy to what happened behind the scenes, so therefore it's silly of me to dislike her. Having said that, it doesn't preclude other things from possibly being true about her, which is backstabbing. Women are adept at maneuvering and creating alliances within corporations, simply because being competent alone gets you ignored and shut out of the good old boy structure. So I can see why Ireland was in a tough spot if he had Dawn against him on the one side, and Philbin on the other. Ireland knew Philbin was picked by Ross and had his confidence, while his own expiration date was coming near. It's no surprise that Philbin did everything he could to make sure he wasn't an Ireland casualty like Sparano was, and who better to nuzzle up to than Aponte, who had Ross's ear? While Aponte is a risk-taker, a strategist and a networker, Philbin is a guy who survives by staying under the radar and closely guarding his reputation.

That's just my take on it.

This all happened because Ross didn't clean house after Parcells left. But I think at that time he didn't know enough about the business to do that. Let's hope a good GM comes in here and straightens things out.

 

[LANGER72]

There isn't a single GM in the league, or the planet for that matter, who should wield that kind of traditional power. Every single GM in the league or a potential GM is not smart enough or competent to be a GM in a traditional sense.

Are you dawn aponte?

 

[Hayden Fox]

Hayden - I simply don't understand your intense dislike of Dawn Aponte. She is clearly brilliant with degrees in law, finance and accounting. She has a juris doctorate, is a member of the New York Bar and is also a CPA. She has made her career in the NFL and she is an expert at negotiating with the players' agents. Her job is to manage the salary cap and she is regarded as one of the best in that capacity. She is clearly a confidante of Stephen Ross and Joe Philbin. She runs the Miami Dolphin football administration and from all accounts runs it like a total professional.

Are you a misogynist who can't accommodate strong successful intelligent women or is it because she supports Coach Philbin in trying to improve the team or option (c) all of the above?

Here is my deal..I am sure she is smart and talented. However, if there is any chance…any, that her presence might turn away a Tom Gamble…she has to go. My point is if I was owner, there is nobody in this organization that is untouchable if it meant bringing in topflight talent. Nobody.

 

[HoneyB]

Here is my deal..I am sure she is smart and talented. However, if there is any chance…any, that her presence might turn away a Tom Gamble…she has to go. My point is if I was owner, there is nobody in this organization that is untouchable if it meant bringing in topflight talent. Nobody.[/QUOTE

Can't argue with that.

 

[roy_miami]

Here is my deal..I am sure she is smart and talented. However, if there is any chance…any, that her presence might turn away a Tom Gamble…she has to go. My point is if I was owner, there is nobody in this organization that is untouchable if it meant bringing in topflight talent. Nobody.

You would dump Tannehill to bring in Gamble? Lets be real here -- Gamble is just as likely to be another Ireland as he is another Ozzie Newsome...

As for Dawn, I really wish I wouldn't have seen her for that 10 seconds on Hard Knocks when she said Tannehill would have to re-enter the draft if he didn't sign off on offset language, how is that any way to negotiate with the person you are hoping will be the face of the franchise? Thats more how you would negotiate with a beach vendor in the Caribbean...

 

[matt11390]

Aponte is definitely gaining status in the organization with Ross and the reason is she is good at what she does. She oversees Ross' spending on the roster primarily. If I am a man with lots of money I would be comfortable with someone I trust with my investment. She doesn't however have any power over the new GM. I really don't see how Aponte could scare off any GM that is confident in what they do as a GM. If I am a talent evaluator looking to improve the roster and enter my first GM position to focus on personnel I would be feeling good I can depend on another like Aponte by my side to keep us in shape financially.

 

[dolphinheel]

Here is my deal..I am sure she is smart and talented. However, if there is any chance…any, that her presence might turn away a Tom Gamble…she has to go. My point is if I was owner, there is nobody in this organization that is untouchable if it meant bringing in topflight talent. Nobody.

The bottom line in any organization is everyone knowing their role. That's up to Ross to set the vision and define the roles. I doubt he would risk losing out on the best candidate without this being done. From what I understand those roles were blurred so a power struggle developed. Plus I think Ireland was a power hungry jerk, so Ross is looking for a group that can communicate and work together. We will be fine, but if we don't win then they all will be gone anyway so there's plenty of incentive to work together.