It was a power play that fooled the masses! It was genius and I applaud Joe, Ross and Aponte for keeping it under wraps, as well as Joe having the guts to push all of his chips into the center of the table and say "I'm all in".
Most of the posters on this board, due to an obscene amount of nefarious twatter and blog reports, were sure that Dawn Aponte was the devil and the reason that some of the GM candidates decided to not interview for the job or not take the GM job once it was offered to them. But now, since the dust has cleared and you connect the dots it is plain to see that Philbin was the puppeteer pulling the strings all along.
There are many rumors about how the relationship between Ireland and Philbin began to sour. First there are the reports that Philbin was not happy with how Ireland addressed the offensive line this offseason. Then there were reports about how Ireland was unhappy with how Philbin was using his draft picks. Then there is the report of Ireland going off on Ireland in the press box with other Dolphins hierarchy in the room about how he can't coach. When the relationship crumbled, Philbin probably know only one of them would be around for the 2014 season. What Joe then had to do was convince Ross that the problem wasn't with the coaching staff but with the players Ireland provided. In the end Joe won the argument. We know this because Ireland chose to resign after some of his power on deciding the final roster was going to be stripped away and given to Philbin.
However, somewhere during that argument I believe that Ireland was also able to convince Ross that Sherman was a huge part of the problem. Ross then told Joe that Sherman has to go. Philbin (who I don't blame one bit for his choice as this will probably be his only HC opportunity in the NFL) then let go of his mentor, knowing that he would be able to hire whomever he wanted as OC. His choice, Bill Lazor. A very competent QB coach who has worked with some of the biggest coaching names in the NFL. Philbin has shown he is a very hands off HC when is comes to his coordinators so he needed someone that he 100% trusted. Lazor had proven he was able to handle many responsibilities in the past as both a HC and OC at the college level so he was a natural fit. Add in the fact he showed he was able to curtail his offense to his players strength/defenses weakness as well as run an up tempo system and I believe Joe did about as well as he could on this hiring.
Now comes the interesting part, the hiring of Hickey. Hickey was a name 99% of us didn't know. Hell, when the report first came out, on him hitting his interview out of the park from Armando many, including myself, totally disregarded it. But when you look at what Hickey has done in Tampa it is pretty easy to see that he is probably pretty good as what he does but also a conformist as well. You don't spend 18 years in one organization, with multiple FO and head coaching changes without being able to do that. You have to be good at what you do or the new regime will replace you with someone they have a personal/professional relationship with. This is the exact kind of GM Ross/Philbin were looking for. One that didn't want to upset the apple cart but who would conform to the task already at hand. The task outlined by Philbin to Ross. Which is why Ross wasn't willing to give the new GM the ability to hire/fire the head coach. The GM in this situation will be implementing Philbin's plan, not the other way around.
Now if we dig a little deeper into Hickey's past we can also probably see that him and Philbin more than likely may have had a working relationship as well. From 1999-2002 Philbin was an assistant at Iowa under Kirk Ferentz. During that same time, 1998-2004, Hickey was the Midwest scout for the Bucs. Now there is no mention off them ever having a personal relationship but one can definitely assume they spoke on a professional level at least a few times. This is where I believe Joe would have first become impressed with Hickey. Not at an interview they shared years down the road.
Taking a look back this is probably the best way the OC and GM search could have turned out. We are continuing with one vision, Philbin's vision. Ross has given Philbin all the rope he needs. He will either hang himself with it or scale the mountain. Hopefully for all of our sake Philbin doesn't leave us once again, crying at the gallows, waiting for a new GM/HC to be hired to right the ship.
Most of the posters on this board, due to an obscene amount of nefarious twatter and blog reports, were sure that Dawn Aponte was the devil and the reason that some of the GM candidates decided to not interview for the job or not take the GM job once it was offered to them. But now, since the dust has cleared and you connect the dots it is plain to see that Philbin was the puppeteer pulling the strings all along.
There are many rumors about how the relationship between Ireland and Philbin began to sour. First there are the reports that Philbin was not happy with how Ireland addressed the offensive line this offseason. Then there were reports about how Ireland was unhappy with how Philbin was using his draft picks. Then there is the report of Ireland going off on Ireland in the press box with other Dolphins hierarchy in the room about how he can't coach. When the relationship crumbled, Philbin probably know only one of them would be around for the 2014 season. What Joe then had to do was convince Ross that the problem wasn't with the coaching staff but with the players Ireland provided. In the end Joe won the argument. We know this because Ireland chose to resign after some of his power on deciding the final roster was going to be stripped away and given to Philbin.
However, somewhere during that argument I believe that Ireland was also able to convince Ross that Sherman was a huge part of the problem. Ross then told Joe that Sherman has to go. Philbin (who I don't blame one bit for his choice as this will probably be his only HC opportunity in the NFL) then let go of his mentor, knowing that he would be able to hire whomever he wanted as OC. His choice, Bill Lazor. A very competent QB coach who has worked with some of the biggest coaching names in the NFL. Philbin has shown he is a very hands off HC when is comes to his coordinators so he needed someone that he 100% trusted. Lazor had proven he was able to handle many responsibilities in the past as both a HC and OC at the college level so he was a natural fit. Add in the fact he showed he was able to curtail his offense to his players strength/defenses weakness as well as run an up tempo system and I believe Joe did about as well as he could on this hiring.
Now comes the interesting part, the hiring of Hickey. Hickey was a name 99% of us didn't know. Hell, when the report first came out, on him hitting his interview out of the park from Armando many, including myself, totally disregarded it. But when you look at what Hickey has done in Tampa it is pretty easy to see that he is probably pretty good as what he does but also a conformist as well. You don't spend 18 years in one organization, with multiple FO and head coaching changes without being able to do that. You have to be good at what you do or the new regime will replace you with someone they have a personal/professional relationship with. This is the exact kind of GM Ross/Philbin were looking for. One that didn't want to upset the apple cart but who would conform to the task already at hand. The task outlined by Philbin to Ross. Which is why Ross wasn't willing to give the new GM the ability to hire/fire the head coach. The GM in this situation will be implementing Philbin's plan, not the other way around.
Now if we dig a little deeper into Hickey's past we can also probably see that him and Philbin more than likely may have had a working relationship as well. From 1999-2002 Philbin was an assistant at Iowa under Kirk Ferentz. During that same time, 1998-2004, Hickey was the Midwest scout for the Bucs. Now there is no mention off them ever having a personal relationship but one can definitely assume they spoke on a professional level at least a few times. This is where I believe Joe would have first become impressed with Hickey. Not at an interview they shared years down the road.
Taking a look back this is probably the best way the OC and GM search could have turned out. We are continuing with one vision, Philbin's vision. Ross has given Philbin all the rope he needs. He will either hang himself with it or scale the mountain. Hopefully for all of our sake Philbin doesn't leave us once again, crying at the gallows, waiting for a new GM/HC to be hired to right the ship.
Finally had enough time to put it together for myself. Do you dispute it? Because when I look at how everything transpired that is the opinion I now have.
