The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

At the end of the season, I though we would see a huge number of coaching changes, from the top man on down.  I guess I was expecting a big, dramatic move.  Instead, there has been a trickle of moves.   I'm not even sure where things stand; but here's what I can find right now.  What happened to the report of "coaches packing boxes with personal effects"? So far, only 2 changes; but are there more to come?

I left off some of the assistants.  How about you help me fill out the rest?  Send me what you know and I'll update the table.

Position	2010	2011	Comments
Head Coach	T. Sparano	T. Sparano	given a 2 year extension
Off Coord	D. Henning	B. Daboll	Henning "retired",  Daboll previously the OC for Cleveland
Def Coord	M. Nolan	M. Nolan	rumors that other teams are interested
Special Teams	D. Rizzi	D. Rizzi	took over for fired John Bonamego mid year
Secondary	T. Bowles	T. Bowles
Offensive Line	D. DeGuglielmo	?
Tight Ends	G. DeLeone	D. Campbell	DeLeone Going to UCONN, Campbell was an intern with Miami
Wide Recievers	K. Dorrell	S. Bush	Bush was the quality control coach
Quarterbacks	D. Lee	K. Dorrell	Lee left for Ole Miss, Dorrell moved from his WR coaching position
Defensive Line	K. Rodgers	?
Running Backs	J. Saxon	J. Nixon	Saxon fired, Nixon joins from Philly
Linebackers	B. Sheridan	?
Strengh and Cond	E. Marcus	D. Krein	Marcus leaving for Virginia, Krein comes from Seattle (09)

No one is "safe" unless they are new hires. Anyone else could get an offer of promotion elsewhere and leave. That said:

Bowles is "expected to stay with the Dolphins", but it's not a sure thing (still interested in a defensive coordinator gig, but his biggest shot at one was a miss).

The team very much liked Dorrell, since they were considering him for OC, so he's also in the "probably staying"category. I haven't seen his name mentioned in any of the OC searches around the league and AFAIK, he hasn't interviewed with anyone, so I don't see why he wouldn't stay.

Rizzi stopped the bleeding from our special teams, but we really need a whole new philosphy there and someone who wasn't the understudy to the guy who was horrible

I wouldn't throw Rizzi out just because he worked for a guy who was horrible.  I've worked for a few horrible managers/coaches, and usually there's not much you can do about.  I'd hate to be judged for what they did.

I do agree that we need to evaluate Rizzi with a very critical eye.  It is definitely a plus that special teams improved under him, but I want a coach who is going to return Miami's special teams to the elite status we once had, not just "stop the bleeding".

On a side note, are there other coaches that are likely to get the boot now that we have a new OC?  Given the performance of the offense this year, I can't believe that there won't be others getting their walking papers.   

Just updated - RB coach Saxon has been fired, TE coach DeLeone has left for Virginia. 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/578979-miami-dolphins-offensive-assistants-james-saxon-george-deleone-leaving-team

Heard a rumor that Rizzi will be retained, but I can't find confirmation of that.

The Colts let go RB coach Gene Huey, who has coached with Indy for 19 seasons.  Poor RB performance the last couple seasons led to his release.  However, he has tons of experiece and a fresh scenery sometimes works, something for the Fins to look at.

DeLone left for UCONN (not Virigina). Their offensive coordinator with Pasqualoni. He is the godfather to Pasqualoni's kids and he is a UCONN grad

http://blog.syracuse.com/orangefootball/2011/01/connecticut_coach_paul_pasqual.html

Miami replaced the 2 coaches fired earlier this week.  Replacing Saxon as the RB coach is Jeff Nixon.  He was on the Philadelphia Eagles staff.  I think this is his first stint as the RB coach.  Replacing Marcus as the strength and conditioning coach is Darren Krein.  Krein had two stints with the Seattle Seahawks as the asst strength and conditioning coach, but his job ended there in 2009.  I'm not sure what he's been doing since then.

Miami seems to be giving a lot of young unproven guys a their "big chance" in the NFL.  It will certainly be a big change from the coaching staff that Henning led in 2010.  This looks like a big gamble for Sparano.  I hope it pays off.

http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/dolphins-add-two-coaching-staff

Dan Campbell was named our TE coach today

He was a "coaching intern" last year for the Fins

Rizzi will stay on as Special Teams Coordinator.
Dave Fipp will take Rizzi's spot as assistant, from San Francisco.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/584775-miami-dolphins-add-dave-fipp-ike-hilliard-to-coaching-staff

Jeff Darlington reporting the Fins hired Ike Hilliard to be an offensive assistant coach helping with the WR's. But he isn't the WRs coach (as of today)

Unless more changes have been announced, it looks like we have 1 confirmed vacancy, and 3 positions where existing coaches may be replaced. 

Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post reporting Karl Dorrell has been moved from WR coach to QB coach

So safe to guess Ike Hilliard will now be the official WR coach

Not to be negative.......but our assistant coaches hires are puzzling at best and confusing. This is the "shake-up" we heard Ross and Sparano talk about? You got to be kidding me?

-A 1st year WR coach
-A 1st yer TE coach
-A QB coach who has spent his whole life as a WR coach or head coach, no experience working with QB's on a full time basis
-An offensive coordinator who's offense was ranked lower than ours last year ( there were only 2)
-A strength and conditioning caoch who wasn't even in the league last year
-We are keeping our Special Teams coach who has like 12 games experience in that role and his unit sucked last year and he learned under the guy we fired

And the sad part is the only decent assistant we got, Nolan.....wanted out but we wouldn't let him.

Heath Evans is a blowhard and why is he even speaking up, nobody cares what he thinks. But he is probably 100% correct. And in my opinion its safe to guess Sparano fears for his job and he doesn't want anyone on his staff who is a threat to replace him mid-season (aside from Nolan really who was already here when this offseason disaster took place). Because we haven't upgraded at all really aside from losing Henning which is addition by subtraction. For a team that is trying to jump start and build an offense you would think we would bring in some guys who have been aroudn the block once or twice and have a resume. Not a bunch of 1st year coaches or moving guys to coaching positions for the first time in their lives

Really?  Was there a hidden purpose to your post I missed?  Cause it seemed to appear to me that it was quite negative.  And the negativity was intentional. 

As for your analysis...

Basically only three types of assistant coaches available:

1. Inexperienced.  This is the guys first shot in this position.  Might be becoming an OC having been the QB coach or becoming the QB coach after being the assistant to the OC, but it is this guys first time in this position.

2. Experienced, but not so good at it.  Was the linebackers coach somewhere else.  They didn't like him and fired him or didn't renew his contract when it was up cause the other team wanted to move in a different direction. Becomes a linebacker coach on another team.

3. Demotion.  Was a good/great OC.  Got promoted to HC.  Sucked as HC.  Is now going back to being an OC.  E.g. Childress gets hired as a OC or Dave Wannstedt becoming the LB coach for the Bills.

That fourth one that you want:  Proven outstanding track record somewhere else in that specific position -- those guys are pretty rare.  They are either staying where they are or are looking for a promotion.  Granted their are rare exceptions such as Dallas snagging Rob Ryan to be the DC, when he was looking for a HC gig.  But they are rare.  Sean Peyton is not going to quit the Saints to become the QB coach of the Dolphins.  Bill Belichick is not going to quit the Patriots to become the DC of the Dolphins.     

^^^In this case, I think Mike's analysis really isn't all that negative.  His assessment of the coaching changes are accurate and while I might not agree with his conclusion (Sparono is intentionally hiring weak assistants to protect his job); I don't think it's unreasonable to look at that as a possibility. 

Mike presents his argument as his opinion, so I'm good with it.

I meant to address that point in my post but forgot to. 

I think that is extremely paranoid conspiracy thinking that makes no sense.  Sparono will not save his job by hiring weak-ass assistants and if he thinks that way he is totally delusional. 

The only thing doing what MikeO suggests is it slightly reduces the chances of being fired mid-season instead of at the end of the season if the team royally sucks.  The only way he actually saves his job is by not sucking for the 2011 season.  To do that he must higher the assistants he feels gives him the best chance to win games.  Dolphins win the AFCE in 2011 no question Tony is the coach in 2012.  If the Dolphins are picking in the top 5 in the 2012 draft no way he is. 

If you think he is purposefully setting up the Dolphins to have bad assistants to make a mid season firing more difficult and make winning more difficult you are way to cynical and paranoid. 

I don't think Mike's perspective is nutty or anything but I do find it a bit superficial conceptually.

Our TE coach was essentially being groomed as an intern and as a former player of that position he simply needed a year to grasp the differences between coaching and playing.  I feel very confident that he knows all that he needs to about the position, he just has to be able to teach it and motivate (thus the internship).

Same thing with Ike Hilliard who BTW was known for his work ethic, solid route running and clutch play making (reliability).  These qualities are all things we want from our receivers.  He is exactly the kind of ex-player you would want working with your guys.

Strength and conditioning is not something that I view as being in need of league experience.  You either understand weight training or you don't.  You either know how to motivate or you don't.  Football players may need a program that is partially tailored to their high physical demands but the human body, kinesiology, and the principles of nutrition are fairly consistant across the board.

I definitely understand the questions about Daboll.  But we have to assume that in his interview he was able to explain why things were the way they were and why things will be different as he moves forward. 

Finally, our special teams coach was able to demonstrate improvement in the unit over the course of the season.  It is wrong to assume that because he worked under someone that he will automatically assume the characteristics of that person.  His results were reasonably impressive considering where we started.  As insurance it sounds like we are bringing in that assistant guy from San Fran.  My opinion is that this area is not being ignored and firing a guy for the wrong reasons isn't going to help.

Hiring or keeping Mike Nolan, either way you look at it, debunks the philosophy of keeping around inferior assistants.  As stated before if Sparano loses, he is either gone or on the hot seat.  No HC can do it all himself so it makes no sense to intentionally hire inferior assistants because it is safe to assume that doing so will result in losing. 

If Sparano misses out on hiring opportunities it is far more likely to be from other factors including:  conservative approach (which makes nobody look good for future jobs), micromanagement, lack of track record, lack of organizational stability since Shula left, personality conflict with himself or Ireland, and lack of money to go around to everybody.

Finally to go with Hoodie's "who is available" option list...  One was semi-left out.  There are guys out their that make a lateral move that were thrown out with that bath water due to regime change.  They may have been good but they weren't friends with the new head office and therefore didn't get the job.  Or perhaps their play style didn't match what the new HC wanted to do.  But ultimately you are right.  Guys are either lateral moves, demotions, promotions or new hires (positively spun as fresh perspectives).  Lateral moves and demotions are the safest but least common. 

So my advice to Mike and those like him...  Do not fear the unknown.  The first thought is not always the right thought.  Your gut will tell you to play it safe and rely on what you know but history shows (ala Saban, Jimmy Johnson and more recently Parcels) that success elsewhere is often not an indicator of success the next place.  And never forget that the players and coaches have more riding on their success than we have riding on their success.  They have information that we don't have and we are simply having a good time trying to guess the future.

My apologies for the long post!

^^^I agree with you Hoodie.

Like MikiO, I'm not impressed with the coaches we have brought in, and most of these moves leave me scratching my head.  That said, I'm not qualified to declare these moves as "terrible" since I didn't interview them, and I have limited experience hiring coaching at the NFL level.  

As you said, Sparano only saves his job by having success and I think that means a winning season and perhaps a play-off appearance.  Bringing in top quality coaches makes a lot more sense than bringing in a bunch of guys who are no threat to succeeding you.  I think these underwhelming moves and new hires are a result of "who is available"  and "who is willing to come to Miami", rather than a devious plan from Sparano.

I think this will fill in the chart....
http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/dolphins-announce-changes-coaching-staff (http://www.miamidolphins.com/news/dolphins-announce-changes-coaching-staff)

Tony Sparano Jr added to the staff too...

Not at all, You missed the ENTIRE point!!!  The point was that these hires are confusing to the fan-base after what Sparano and Ross said at their "roundtable meeting" a few weeks back.  And you can add Tony hiring his SON today  to the list!  And I don't see the logic behind any of these hires, they just make little sense. I am hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

THAT was the point of the post which EVERYONE got......except for you (shocking)

Rare? You had Tom Cable, Brad Childress, and Josh McDaniels all on the open market (just 3 examples off the top of my head). Proven coordinators with a track record. Now you can like some, dislike some, hate them all.....but they are ANYTHING but rare!!!! There are a ton of proven coordinators on the open market each offseason

Actually that trio all fall into my 3rd group.  3. Demotion