*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Jan 17, 2000: -- JJ Resigns --
As you undoubtedly know by now, JJ resigned as the Dolphins'
head coach yesterday morning. This time, there was no doubt in his
mind and Wayne Huizenga did nothing to try and talk him out of
leaving.
He was not given any other job with the Dolphins right away,
although he did say "I will do whatever they want me to do as far as
assisting this organization".
While he was with the Dolphins his record was 36-28 in the
regular season and 2-3 in the playoffs.
In his place, the Dolphins have promoted Dave Wannestedt to
head coach. Wannestedt signed a 3 year, $3.9 million contract
yesterday.
Wannestedt was the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys
when JJ guided them to the SuperBowl and was the head coach of the
Chicago Bears from 1993 to 1998, where he compiled a 40-56 record.
After he was fired by the Bears, he was hired by JJ as the assistant
head coach of the Dolphins.
Following Wannestedt's promotion to head coach, offensive
coordinator Kippy Brown, assistant offensive line coach Rich McGeorge
and quarterbacks coach Larry Seiple were fired. No replacements have
been named as yet.
Dave Wannestedt acknowledged in his press conference that he
had problems while in Chicago in selecting personnel and indicated
that the Dolphins would bring in another person to help with personnel
decisions, although that person has not been named yet. However,
Wannestedt stated that he would retain final authority on all
personnel matters.
Rumors:
There may be more firings of assistants over the next few
days. Wannestedt has indicated that he will be meeting with his
defensive coaches this week and possibly making some more changes.
Some of the rumored candidates for assistant's jobs with the
Dolphins are former Dallas head coach Chan Gailey (for offensive
coordinator), former Pittsburgh personnel directory Tom Donahoe (for
personnel decisions) and Tony Wise (for the offensive line). All
three have worked with Wannestedt in the past.
Both Gailey and Donahoe are being considered for other
positions elsewhere in the league, however, and Wise is under contract
to the Panthers.
The rumors are flying hot and heavy about Dan Marino's future,
but there is nothing worthwhile to report. Dave Wannestedt carefully
sidestepped the issue at his press conference, only saying that he
wanted to talk with Dan about his future sometime in the next few
weeks.
My Comments:
JJ resigned because he wasn't enjoying being an NFL head coach
anymore. That is very understandable, considering how the last 2
seasons he has coached have ended. At this point in his career at
Dallas, he had won a SuperBowl and was clearly on his way to
another. Obviously, that is a lot more enjoyable than his recent
experiences in Miami.
I do believe it was time for JJ to go, if only because his
heart wasn't in his job. You can't do a job like head coach in the
NFL without being totally committed to it.
I know I'm going to get questions about whether or not I think
he did a good job while he was the head coach, so I'll just answer
them in advance. Here goes:
I think that JJ did a pretty good job as the head coach of the
Dolphins. Not a great job - a pretty good job.
On the plus side, he turned the defense into a real
powerhouse. Saturday's game notwithstanding, the Dolphin defense has
been in the top 5 of the NFL for the last 2 years. The defense is
faster, stronger and younger that it was before he came to Miami and
there's no reason to think that it won't continue to be strong.
And I think that special teams have improved since JJ came to
town. His policy of using starters on special teams, while risky, has
paid off for the most part.
On the down side, the offense has deteriorated from it's
number 8 ranking in 1995 to 20th this year. The highest it's ranked
since JJ took over was 11th in 1997.
The problems with the offense stemmed from a combination of
poor offensive playcalling and a lack of big time players. This was
not the result of a lack of effort on JJ's part, as the Dolphins'
offensive unit endured constant changes to their personnel, but rather
to poor selection of both players and coaches.
Before he became a head coach, JJ had never coached on the
offensive side of the ball and knew less about it than he did about
defenses. In Dallas, he was lucky to get Norv Turner to design his
offense and Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith to make it
go. In Miami, the lack of comparable players and coaches on offense
showed that JJ did not have a great mind for offensive football.
Overall, however, the Dolphins made the playoffs in 3 of his 4
years as head coach and that's a pretty good job. In 2 of those
years, they won the first playoff game and they won their first road
playoff game since 1972. Also, the Dolphins have still not had a
losing season since the mid-80s, despite a complete reshuffling of the
team in 1996.
So, I think that JJ did a pretty good job with the Dolphins.
Not great, but pretty good.
Now Dave Wannestedt will get his chance. We'll be able to see
if he knows how to fix the problems that plagued him in Chicago or
whether he'll make the same mistakes. At the very least, he
understands that personnel decisions were not his strong suit in
Chicago and he has said that he wants to get help in making those
decisions.
Certainly, he'll get help from JJ whenever he needs it. But
more importantly, he's trying to hire Tom Donahoe, formerly of the
Steelers, to run the Dolphins' personnel department. Donahoe built up
the Steeler teams of the early 90s and found a lot of diamonds in the
rough to build their running game.
If it isn't Donahoe, it will be someone, however. Wannestedt
will hire someone with a proven track record to help him with his
personnel decisions, and that's a good sign.
The firing of Kippy Brown was a foregone conclusion, but I'm a
little surprised that the assistant offensive line coach was fired and
not the number one offensive line coach. Still, that may be coming
down the tracks - we'll see.
Personally, I think that Dave Wannestedt was probably the
right choice. Certainly, he doesn't have to work in Miami for a year
to become acquainted with the Dolphins organization and players. He
already knows everyone and how they perform. It will be interesting
to see what other changes he makes during the off-season.
I certainly think we should give him the benefit of the doubt
before we start sniping at him. By all accounts, it was his personnel
decisions that got him into trouble in Chicago, not his coaching. If
he can get help with personnel, that could make him a terrific head
coach.
As far as Dan Marino is concerned, I think that he should
retire. Certainly the Dolphins are, at the very least, going to ask
him to take a huge pay cut and compete for the starting job with the
other quarterbacks if he wants to stay with the Dolphins. And I don't
think that would be good for Dan.
After watching him play in Jacksonville, it's clear to me that
he's not the player he once was, injury or no injury. And it's not
his arm as much as his decision making that's hurting.
No, Dan's career as a great player is over. He could stay on
and become an average NFL quarterback, but that's not what he, his
fans or the team wants. And I don't think it would be enough for him
or the fans.
Once you've been the best, it's hard to go back and become
just another one of the guys.
I'm afraid, however, that his competitive fire will drive him
to attempt another season. If that happens, I believe that he's in
for even more disappointment. I hope he retires - for his own sake.
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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