Dolphins Fail to Reel In Big “Fish”er!

Today at about 2:30PM Eastern time, the Miami Dolphins and the rest of Dolfans everywhere learned that Jeff Fisher got free from Steve Ross’ proverbial hook.

Saddened as much as Dolfan Nation was, many took to Twitter to voice their frustrations and took to the radiowaves on Sid Rosenberg’s daily show on WQAM in Miami.

Jeff Fisher, the coach that Steve Ross and Jeff Ireland gave the royal tour complete with choppers and caviar took the job with the St. Louis Rams.

The Rams, a team that has spent 10 years with mainly losing seasons have landed a very good coach in Jeff Fisher.  Fisher, reportedly stands to make upwards of 7.5 million per year on a 5 year contract and has final say on personnel.

For the Dolphins, dollars and cents were not the issue.  Steve Ross reportedly was willing to out spend anyone for the coach that Steve Ross badly wanted.  Steve Ross was very willing to go above and beyond for the coach that would turn the Miami Dolphins franchise into a contender and a pearl of the AFC East. 

Just last night, Adam Schefter reported that Jeff Fisher had a better than expected rapport with Steve Ross and Jeff Ireland.  The main thing was the organizational structure of the Dolphins franchise and Schefter acknowledged that control was a main issue for Fisher to be coach of the Dolphins.

Adam Schefter, a very well admired and respected reporter for ESPN believed as early this morning that it was an 80/20 chance that Jeff Fisher was coming to the Miami Dolphins to be the 10th head coach in their history.

Many Dolfans were waking up this morning hoping and wishing that Jeff Fisher was going to be appearing for a press conference later this afternoon and that Jeff Fisher was going to bring in the best coaching staff that money could buy.

As the day wore on, the report came through on text 239 (Sun-Sentinel Sports news) or ESPN via text on all of our phones:

Jeff Fisher has agreed to join the St. Louis Rams.

So why did this happen?

Based on my observations around the web:

Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports hit the nail on the head this evening with his article on the Miami Dolphins letting Fisher slip away.

In his article, he quoted a conversation that Fisher had with Steve Ross where Fisher admitted, basically pouring his heart out:

Fisher discussed the need for final say and control over personnel when he reportedly told Ross:

“I’ve been a head coach for 17 years and 12 of them sucked because I had to fight for what I wanted.”

Steve Ross, either dismissed what Fisher said, or lives up to the reputation as the micro-managing meddling owner. 

Is this direct quote by Cole a direct shot at the Miami Dolphins’ Steve Ross and Jeff Ireland?  It very well could be and it could help explain at how this exact situation unfolded into becoming a media frenzy filled with rumor and innuendo. 

In the coming days, the Miami Dolphins complete with the twosome of Jeff Ireland and Jeff Fisher will be dialing for dollars in getting in more coaches for interviews.

What’s next?

The Miami Dolphins desperately need a coach and might be watching their coach on the sidelines of this weekend’s four playoff games. 

Here is a synopsis of some possibilities:

Just today: Chris Kouffman @ckparrot a well respected draft guru at universaldraft.com mentioned Vic Fangio (DC Forty Niners), Chuck Pagano (DC Baltimore Ravens), and Milke Zimmer (DC Cincinnati Bengals) as possible head coaches for the Miami Dolphins.  He did not discount Dave Toub as a strong possibility.  (More on this later).

In addition, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald mentioned quite possibly that an expanded coaching search of former Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman, current Carolina Panthers OC Rob Chadzinski, and New York Jets DC Mike Pettine would be in for interviews.

Lastly, as reported by the Miami Herald and confirmed by Chris Kouffman through a source with the Orlando Sentinel, the current special teams coach Dave Toub (pronounced Tobe) will be in for a second interview thus solidifying his chances of landing his first HC job in the NFL.

Many other current college coaches could receive overtures from Jeff Ireland in the next few days such as Chip Kelly of Oregon (denied interest, but he’s in recruiting mode), Greg Schiano of Rutgers (has ties to the University of Miami), and any other surprise candidate that nobody knows about. 

If your head is spinning? It can’t possibly be as bad as the Dolphins “spin” on the response and message that Steve Ross and Jeff Ireland failed to land Fisher.

In a parting shot, Steve Ross ended his statement today about not landing Fisher:

 “[Fisher] was the only candidate that had any head coach experience. I would’ve liked that in a way, but I don’t feel any worse off. . . . We’re very excited about these other coaches we’ve interviewed and we’ll continue to interview. I think all of them are outstanding.”

Sure, but Steve Ross will feel much worse than today and hideout in his office on 5th Avenue in New York if the Miami Dolphins do not bring in a winning season and give the fans more than zero blackouts to cheer about.

What makes these interviewed coaches outstanding and certainly better than Jeff Fisher?

I suppose as Dolfans, it’s back to the grind on twitter and the web for a glimpse of who is going to be the next “Young” Don Shula. 

Thanks for reading!

@DolphinMick on Twitter