Ross still trying to win as an owner

[Daytona Fin]

By Hal Habib - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


DAVIE — The speaker, Tim Robbie, isn’t just a Dolphins fan but someone with lifelong ties to the organization because his late father, Joe, founded it.
Since the Robbie family no longer owns the club, Tim can speak freely on what it’s like to own an NFL franchise. And speak freely, he does.

“Primarily you have a lot of billionaires that get into the NFL because they could afford it,” he said. “And they think it’ll be fun and it’s a rich guy’s toy. And all of a sudden you’re put into a situation where your every move is under a microscope and the success of the venture is based on wins and losses, not the bottom line on a financial sheet.”

So, unless you’re among the fortunate few to win right away, what’s the real bottom line?

“They’re villains,” Robbie said.

But if you’re disappointed with the Stephen Ross regime to date, guess what? So is Stephen Ross.

“I expected a lot more winning seasons than I’ve had, so I’ve been very disappointed from that standpoint,” said Ross, who took full control in January 2009. “I mean, that was the reason I bought the team, to create a winning organization.”

That’s what everyone wants, isn’t it? The thrill of owning a professional sports franchise may catch your eye, but isn’t the real allure the belief that since you’ve outsmarted all the other guys with shrewd business moves, you’re now going to conquer this world, too? Is there a more chic hood ornament than the Vince Lombardi Trophy?

Then, reality slams on the brakes.

“You want to hire the right people,” said Ross, one of the nation’s leading real estate developers. “You find out you can’t get those people. There’s contracts. You can’t tamper. There’s everything else.”

Say you’re a new owner and you want to change your coach and general manager. If you’re axing your two most important and possibly experienced employees, whom do you turn to for help in finding replacements?

“One of the things the league encourages new owners to do is to go out and talk to owners that have been involved in the league business for a number of years and get an idea as to whether they have any advice and what makes their operation successful,” New York Giants owner John Mara said. “And a number of new owners have taken advantage of that. Some haven’t.”

After Joe Robbie died in January 1990, Tim Robbie became club president and helped run the organization until inheritance taxes forced his family to sell to Wayne Huizenga four years later. Tim Robbie enjoyed the same advantage Mara did, learning from a father who owned a team.

Tim saw his father build the stadium without public money and build a model franchise.

“The core philosophy that our family always had in ownership is hire good people and don’t meddle with what they’re doing,” Tim Robbie said. “If you don’t like what they’re doing, get rid of them.”

Noting that the club had only two head coaches — George Wilson and Don Shula — under his father, Tim credited “stability and continuity” for the Dolphins’ glory years.

Considering that Joe Robbie founded the Dolphins in 1966, he didn’t have many owners to go to for advice. Rather, Joe Robbie soon led committees and was an NFL torchbearer. He had his regrets, too, starting with the loss of Hall of Famers Larry Csonka and Paul Warfield and running back Jim Kiick in 1974.

“When the World Football League came into play after the Dolphins had the Super Bowl run in the early ’70s and some of the key players left, he was always frustrated by that,” Tim Robbie said.

Tim Robbie’s assessment of Ross?

“I think he’s trying to do it the right way,” Robbie said. “Getting back to knee-jerk type of behavior, I think there has been some of that, but he inherited (Bill) Parcells and Jeff Ireland and that regime. And so really, he hasn’t made a lot of changes since he became the owner.

“I think the jury’s still out but I certainly would give him high marks for attempting to do it the right way. I think he’s been more patient than the fans are. … It’s got to be tough because the fans are at their wit’s end.”

Ross said he hopes to own the Dolphins another 10 or 15 years but will not pass it along to his family.

Is coach Joe Philbin the answer? Is Ross the answer? Or can he find the answer?

“Steve is trying to do the right thing,” Mara said. “In Miami, obviously, they’ve had some issues to work with but I think he’s got some very good people working for him down there and I think they’re poised to take the next step and be a very good team.”

Ross hopes the Dolphins are turning the corner, perhaps subscribing to Kraft’s philosophy that “the high of winning is not as satisfying as the low — the draining of losing.”

Said Ross: “You own a team because you want to create a winner and not just a fact of owning a team. Certainly, that’s the reason why I own the Dolphins.”

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news..._pbpstubtomypbp_launch#54a8b93d.257708.735482

 

[fish920]

Hope it's true, but what would you expect Ross to say?

 

[Dr. Phin]

If you read between the lines, this show why the NFL is becoming a big "good-ol-boys" club, where even failing coaches are recycled from one team to the next. The fact is, most owners don't have a ****ing clue as to what they are doing, so they just hire whoever they can get that has "done it before" and few will go for radical change. I congratulate owners like Jeff Lurie and Paul Allen for having the balls to "think outside the box." It has paid off in spades for Paul Allen!

Our owner...he is stuck in "don't know what the **** to do mode"...he will always be trying to bring in the big name...and tripping over his own feet. He is a crappy owner.

 

[Hayden Fox]

The two best moves he has made was hiring Tom Garfinkel and Dan Marino. I think Garfinkel "gets it" and Marino gives Ross credibility with NFLers.

 

[GreenMts]

Then, reality slams on the brakes.

“You want to hire the right people,” said Ross, one of the nation’s leading real estate developers. “You find out you can’t get those people. There’s contracts. You can’t tamper. There’s everything else.”

So Ross by his own admission got into something without doing due diligence. Perhaps he did his due diligence on the financial side but this tells me he did not on the operational side.

I've always suspected this. I believe his successes in his core business come from transactions and financing not operations. Being bright in one area doesn't mean you are in the other.