Yours Truly Gets Pro Football Talk to Back Down on Marino Issue...

[ckparrothead]

Hey guys I just wanted to show ya somethin funny with Pro Football Talk's Rumor Mill. When hearing about the Marino move, PFT first wrote THIS in their rumor mill...

DOLPHINS HIRE MARINO

Buoyed by the tremendous success that the last broadcaster-turned-executive has enjoyed in three seasons with Detroit, the Dolphins have decided to hand the reins of its football operations to quarterback Dan Marino, who has precisely as much experience working in an NFL front office as we do.

The move is downright laughable, and it's even more of a joke than if they'd given the job to Paul Warfield, the former Dolphins receiver who at least has some (not many, but some) objective credentials for the gig.

Don't get us wrong -- Marino's a good guy and he was a great quarterback. But the guy has never had a real job in his life, and running a football team is far more akin to having a real job than anything Marino ever had done.

We're hoping to post some reactions from folks more qualified than us to speak to this development. Stay tuned.

Now I've been following PFT for many years and I hate to see them get a story so wrong especially when its about Miami. So I didn't stand for this. I've spoken with Mike Florio in the past about several subjects including the design of their rumor mill and stuff so I shot over this email...

Mike,

Just so you know before you go further with the whole laughability of Marino's hiring with the Dolphins, lets just get the story straight here. Marino is not the GM. He doesn't have personnel authority at all, in fact.

Rick Spielman won the 7 candidate sweepstakes for the GM position. He once reported to Dave Wannstedt on personnel matters, now he reports to NOBODY on personnel matters and has final say.

I just find it all funny because the reason Dan was hired for this essentially figurehead position, is to throw everyone's scent off the fact that Spielman now controls personnel where before Wannstedt did. As you guys have stated in the past, Spielman is very qualified and had Miami hired someone like Randy Mueller, he probably would have been hired by Detroit immediately. In the end, as you guys have reported, the Dolphins wanted someone with experience at both sides of being a GM, the draft AND free agency. In the end, the only candidates that had said experience (aside from Modrak who backed out), were Mueller and Spielman. As you guys reported, Mueller is a big headed ego trip who got fired from two GM positions because of his ego. So that left Spielman. But just hiring Spielman as GM would have set off a FIRESTORM of criticism in Miami because of how unpopular Dave Wannstedt is. I mean think about it, the move would have seemed a token "cosmetic" change and Miami fans would have blasted the owner for it.

Instead, everyone is focusing on Dan Marino, focusing the criticism or praise on him, while Spielman slips in under the radar. I haven't heard his name mentioned on ESPN once, not once. They pretend that Miami interviewed 7 people, then hired Dan out of the blue.

The truth of the matter is the front office received criticism FROM YOU and others, about the fact that Eddie Jones and Wayne Huizenga were not "football guys" and were in charge of the whole GM search and you continually made fun of how it was being dragged out. So now, they've brought in THE "football guy" to be part of the inner circle with Eddie Jones and Wayne Huizenga. He will be the one that has power of hiring or firing both GMs and Head Coaches. But first Eddie Jones, who has been contemplating and threatening retirement for YEARS, will teach Dan Marino his end of the business, and once Dan has that down, Jones will probably retire and then websites like yours could never again criticize the Dolphins for having non-"football guys" running the show.

I would think you guys would be happy. This is basically a vindication of a number of things you've said in your own Rumor Mills. Try to be a little intelligent here and realize that "constantly criticizing miami" is not really a consistent position given what you've already reported in the past. You guys criticized the fact that Jones and Huizenga were non-football guys and in charge of the hiring/firing process, so now Marino is in charge. You should be happy. You guys criticized just about every candidate Miami presented for GM, except Rick Spielman, and now Spielman gets the job and you STILL criticize? Come on.

Chris Kouffman

And whadya know, almost in DIRECT RESPONSE to my email, the Rumor Mill reported an update on the whole Marino hiring...and here it is.

MORE DETAILS ON MIAMI'S NEW FRONT OFFICE

We'll admit that we were a bit harsh on Monday when we questioned the sanity and sobriety of the folks who put Dan Marino in charge of the football operations in Miami. After gathering more information regarding the stunning move, however, we're ready to reverse course and give the organization a thumb's up for the overall restructuring of the front office.

The new format places Marino in charge of the football operations, with both Rick Spielman and coach Dave Wannstedt reporting to Marino. Spielman has been promoted to G.M., and he'll be responsible for all personnel decisions.

Though there are rumblings that Marino will serve as the tiebreaker between Wannstedt and Spielman when it comes to picking, dumping, and/or drafting players, we're hearing that Spielman will indeed have final say when it comes to personnel. The goal, however, will be to create an environment in which Spielman, Wannstedt, and Marino work together to identify Wannstedt's needs on the roster -- and to fill them appropriately.

One of our readers opined in an e-mail message that the appointment of Marino might have been intended to obfuscate the fact that Spielman now holds the juice when it comes to personnel, even though he's on the same rung of the ladder as Wannstedt, who previously stood one step higher than Spielman.

We doubt that owner Wayne Huizenga's plan was so elaborate, given the revelation that Marino has been pushing for some type of a front-office gig for a while. We also hear that Marino has been doing his homework of late, spending time at the facility and gathering information on the workings of the front office.

So, in hindsight, it looks like Huizenga hasn't handed the power to another Matt Millen (and that's a very good thing). Coupled with the strong public face that Marino puts on the franchise and his ability to help recruit a generation or so of free agents who grew up watching him fire bullets all over the field, the end result gives the Dolphins a framework for long-term success.

But there still will be some short-term tweaking. We're hearing that offensive coordinator Norv Turner likely won't be retained. We've heard nothing at this point about potential replacements.

Did anyone else catch those last couple of lines??? They hear that Norv Turner won't be retained!!!! I think that would be a big mistake.

Incidentally I hope this just shows you guys that yeah, if you think someone's made a mistake in what they wrote just go ahead and email them back pointing it out but be calm and logical. You could see an about-face done basically in your honor.

 

[DeDolfan]

only thing is, CK, that there is so many conflicting reports on the whole thing. One says that both wanny and Speilman will answer to marino but yet another says that Speilman has final say over personel, not Dan.
For now, I guess it all depends on what you read, where and what you choose/want to believe.
maybe this will all be clarified shortly for sanity's sake !!

 

[Fisticuff]

good thread.

I am on the ropes with Norv Turner. His system hasn't worked since 1993... Lets get real about that. His system is designed for specific players which Miami doesn't have. Look at someone like Charlie Weis, who will adjust his system according to his players. I know this will be argued, but i think Chan Gailey did a much better job when he was the OC... and he didn't have Ricky Williams (had Lamar Smith who never had back to back 100 yard games and would tire himself out) I wouldn't be upset if he is fired, and would go with the flow if he wasn't. I don't believe he'll be fired at all. DW is still the coach, and even though he doesn't have personnel power Miami won't start messing with things now because it's obviously now or never for DW and company.

 

[ckparrothead]

DeDolfan.

Both of your statements are true. Rick and Wanny both answer to Marino. Yet, Rick has final say on Personnel. Just like Dave has final say on Coaching. Marino can't come in and tell Rick who to draft anymore than he could come onto the field and tell Dave to go for it on 4th down.

When they say that Dave and Rick "answer to" or "report to" Marino, they mean that Marino is their BOSS. Just like Eddie Jones and Wayne Huizenga were Dave Wannstedt's BOSS before, but neither one of them was about to tell them who to draft or whether or not to go for it on 4th down.

 

[1972]

Nice work Parrothead.

 

[ckparrothead]

Just so you know Blueprint, Norv's system HAS worked since 1993.

His offenses with the Redskins were continually among the league's best. He had Stephen Davis rushing for 1500+ yards, Brad Johnson throwing for 3000+ yards, and both Michael Westbrook and Albert Connell becoming 1000 yard receivers. Not to mention, Stephen Alexander got the reputation for being the TE that he never was anywhere other than Washington, under Norv Turner. Basically the only guys in Norv's Washington offense, which in 1999 ranked second only to the St Louis Rams monkey-@ss all out air assault with Warner in his prime, who could actually make it with other teams were Brad Johnson, Stephen Davis, Larry Centers, and the right tackle. Every single other dude fell to pieces when someone other than Norv coached them. From Stephen Alexander, to the two WRs Westbrook and Connell, to the OLmen (Cory Raymer, Andy Heck, Tre Johnson, and I forget who the RG was).

1999 wasn't his only other good year on offense with the Skins either. He brought GUS FREROTTE to the Pro Bowl, discovered Trent Green and brought Trent his first offensive success (spurring the Rams to make a big trade for him to be their #1 QB).

Then when he moved to San Diego for one year, he got LaDainian Tomlinson rushing for tons of yards, actually had Curtis Conway of all people catching for like 1200 yards, and made both Drew Brees and Doug Flutie look GOOD. That OL, btw, was horrible before he showed up, and he covered up their weaknesses until they actually looked GOOD.

Since he's been here he's had Ricky Williams, but he's also had Jay Fiedler...probably the worst quarterback he's coached in Dallas, Washington, or San Diego. He managed to cover for the offensive line last year, but he made a serious mistake this year in thinking that last year's success was partly due to us having a strong OL...and this year before the season started he said that now he can concentrate not so much on being able to run the ball but tinkering with the passing game. This was a mistake because likely the only reason we were able to run the ball as well as we did in 2002, was because of Norv's finding creative ways to run it.

This is very parallel, if you remember, to what happened in 2000 and 2001. In 2000 Chan's #1 priority was to give Miami a ground game. And so he found creative ways to run Lamar Smith, and get us that ground game. But in 2001, he was charged to get the passing game up to speed, given that we KNOW we can rush the ball. What happened? We couldn't rush the ball...at all basically.

Its just a testament to how much better Ricky is to Lamar Smith (and possibly how much better Norv is to Chan Gailey) that in this "off" year Ricky still had 1300+ yards rushing whereas in the off year in 2001, Lamar had like barely 1000 if that.