Dolphins Coaching Upheaval Not Worth Panic

[Austin Tatious]

The O'Shea firing and Gailey hiring threw the media and fans into a frenzy. This is a fluid situation and personally I'd prefer to let it play out. Flores showed me he's got the team going in the right direction and no reason to think that won't continue.

I don't get the people complaining about Flores. He literally won 5 games--including at NE without any gimmicks like the Wildcat--much of that with Patrick Laird running. The roster was full of castoffs, late round and undrafted pickups, practice squad poachees, and guys off the street.

Flores installed a winning attitude and culture. The number of self-destructing plays and idiotic penalties were minimal. The atmosphere around the team has really flipped.

The players and team became cohesive and the team improved by leaps and bounds. After 0-2, NO ONE would have even dared to imagine we would win at NE when NE was in a critical situation and really trying to win. You can't just gloss over that. It was a very telling turn of events.

 

[SCOTTY]

So...just to see this all in one spot.....

OLD

Pat Flaherty : OL Coach
Patrick Graham: Defensive coordinator
Tony Oden: safeties coach
Chad O'Shea: Offensive Coordinator
Dave DeGuglielmo, OL Coach
Jerry Schuplinski: Assistant QB coach
Jim Caldwell: QB coach
Josh Boyer: Defensive pass game coordinator/Cornerbacks coach

NEW

Josh Boyer: Defensive coordinator (promoted)
Curt Kuntz: DB Coach (former HS head coach)
Austin Clark: Outside linebacker coach (DL coach at Illini)
Robby Brown: QB coach (special assistant to the head coach and senior analyst (offense) for West Virginia
Chan Gailey: Offensive Coordinator
Open: OL coach
Open: Assistant QB Coach

Looks a little scary when you see the comparison, IMO. I am also remembering how Pat Flaherty was rumored to be fired because of the Deiter situation (among other things). Supposedly he said Deiter was not ready. It appears he was correct. Now the guy who replaced him also gets fired?

Am I missing anyone?

How many of the new have been officially announced. I'm not saying they won't be hired just I'm still puzzled that a couple of them still seem pending.

 

[Geordie]

At the end of the day Flores will be judged on these moves, it a bit strange that he's intentionally shortened his leash a little but also screams of how secure in his job he is. Just hoping that the "success" he had this year hasn't gone to his head and he's making some of theses decision because of his ego. He's earned the trust though for now, that'll change if we don't show significant improvement on this 5 win season, next year. Chan Galley is the big head scratcher in all this for me, especially when you see who Carolina just got.

 

[Eesti]

How many of the new have been officially announced. I'm not saying they won't be hired just I'm still puzzled that a couple of them still seem pending.

Sort of my thinking as well....I haven't really seen any announcements.

 

[ATL_PHIN_FAN]

Steve Marshall screams ineptitude.

Flores is falling into a path that failures at HC do. Hiring bad assistants that havent had success anywhere.

Yeah, Flores is just too dumb to hire coaches that have had success somewhere. I wonder if he uses other criteria to decide who can help him the most?

 

[SkapePhin]

Can anyone name a time in the past 20 years when the Dolphins replaced a coordinator during an HC’s tenure and the unit actually got better? The only times I can even think of are Bill Lazor Year 1 (but that quickly came undone) and Norv Turner (bit a lot of that could be attributed to Ricky Williams)

Most of the time the unit gets worse (Think VJ to Matt Burke)

 

[SCOTTY]

Can anyone name a time in the past 20 years when the Dolphins replaced a coordinator during an HC’s tenure and the unit actually got better? The only times I can even think of are Bill Lazor Year 1 (but that quickly came undone) and Norv Turner (bit a lot of that could be attributed to Ricky Williams)

Most of the time the unit gets worse (Think VJ to Matt Burke)

But I don't think we are rehiring any of those guys

 

[SkapePhin]

But I don't think we are rehiring any of those guys

Ok, that’s great. But can you cite an example where a coordinator change actually worked in the past? History doesn’t favor a success here, especially considering 2 coordinator changes at the same time.

Maybe it will be less of the problem than it would otherwise be since this roster will be churned over so heavily, but everyone should admit it is a bit of a risk to turnover the staff to this extent so early in his tenure.

 

[SCOTTY]

Ok, that’s great. But can you cite an example where a coordinator change actually worked in the past? History doesn’t favor a success here, especially considering 2 coordinator changes at the same time.

Maybe it will be less of the problem than it would otherwise be since this roster will be churned over so heavily, but everyone should admit it is a bit of a risk to turnover the staff to this extent so early in his tenure.

Why should everyone admit this is a risk. Weren't we ranked close to last. You squeezed this to fit a very narrow narrative. Your same arguement. We draft a qb, he sucks so it's a huge risk to draft another one?

 

[SkapePhin]

 

[DPhinz_DPhinz]

I’m not worried at all. He’s learned from Billichick to cut bait if someone can no longer help you. Doesn’t matter if it was Seymour, Brown, Vrabel etc Billichick moved on if he thought he could improve his team. Flores knows what he likes and doesn’t like. He was friends with O’Shea and Graham and still thought he could do better.

In my book, you can't be Bill Belichick without the results. Another year of 5-11, or even 6-10, is enough for me to start looking for some kindling to place around his seat. If Flores' name is going to be attached to Belichick's then all that comes with it should be attached as well...especially the winning.

 

[SkapePhin]

Why should everyone admit this is a risk. Weren't we ranked close to last. You squeezed this to fit a very narrow narrative. Your same arguement. We draft a qb, he sucks so it's a huge risk to draft another one?

It’s a risk for the HC. This is his personal decision. If it blows up in his face, he carries the bulk of the blame for it, unlike a QB who can also be pinned on the GM.

It could be the case that O’Shea sucked and that Fitz was mostly responsible for any of the unit’s success, but that goes to back what I have always warned about Year 1 HC’s exceeding expectations with a vet QB. They better get the QB situation settled with a good, young QB, or they won’t survive long term.

Perhaps in that sense this could end up being a very promising move because it would mean Flores’ realized he needed to get an OG coach to develop a young guy and not be blinded by the success of a unit because of the work of an old, steady vet.

 

[SCOTTY]

It’s a risk for the HC. This is his personal decision. If it blows up in his face, he carries the bulk of the blame for it, unlike a QB who can also be pinned on the GM.

It could be the case that O’Shea sucked and that Fitz was mostly responsible for any of the unit’s success, but that goes to back what I have always warned about Year 1 HC’s exceeding expectations with a vet QB. They better get the QB situation settled with a good, young QB, or they won’t survive long term.

Perhaps in that sense this could end up being a very promising move because it would mean Flores’ realized he needed to get an OG coach to develop a young guy and not be blinded by the success of a unit because of the work of an old, steady vet.

Pretty much any move a new HC makes can be construed a risk one way or another. Just really depends which angle you look from. If all these coaches are introduced, one thing I agree, he went OG...our coaching leadership pretty much doubled in age.

 

[JRYCRL]

Hey how much are those new Yokohama tires? Never mind, give me those 1988 used BF Goodrich retreads....

 

[Mach2]

Hmmm......

We have ppl bitching about hiring retreads.

And......

We have ppl bitching about hiring inexperienced, unproven coaches.

I guess it's Wednesday.....