Philbin could stay even if we do not make the playoffs

[Spider-Dan]

Once more: Wanny had a better record than JJ, and Wanny's record completely destroys everyone who came after him.  So how can you possibly claim any of them were better?

You say Wanny was bad at developing talent?  Saban was no better.  Neither was Sparano.  Neither is Philbin.
But at least Wanny had a respectable record.  The rest consider it a miracle to make the playoffs.

[Brian Fein]

Of course none of them are any better.  Never said they were.  I think, only very recently, we are starting to see an up-swing in draft pick potential and skill development.

Again, my position was clearly stated.  Wanny had a talented team of skilled players who won in spite of him.  His record is an indication of the talent he was handed on a platter.  The trend of future progress and maintaining that talent speaks directly to Wanny's abilities.

[Spider-Dan]

Also, as far as Rodgers and the "21 other GMs go," 21 other GMs were not brought in from the college ranks because of their intense personal familiarity and success in the college ranks.  Saban was supposed to be the expert on college talent, and all he did was brainlessly pick SEC players.  Rodgers was the QB of the #4 team in the nation when Saban was still coaching in college.  He was the only QB to beat USC the year USC split the national championship with Saban's team.  Saban does not get a pass on Rodgers.

As far as the rest goes, Wanny took JJ's team minus Dan Marino and posted a better record than JJ did.  If that's what you call "driving a team into the ground," I don't know what to tell you.

[dolphins4life]

On one hand

Philbin took a 6-10 team and has put them to where they were in playoff contention until week 16 in 2012 and week 17 in 2013.  And they are still in playoff contention now.

On the other hand,

He doesn't seem to be a good game manager

[MikeO]

You know darn well that Wannstedt inherited a decent team.  As soon as Wannstedt took over from Johnson he starting bringing in all his buddy coaches he had at Chicago (miserable Chicago Bears Teams), and the team went downhill.

JJ never won a division title. Wannstedt did. If that's going downhill I will take that!

Wannstedt was at double digit wins (one year 9) every year he was in Miami till his final year when Ricky quit and the season was sabotaged in July. The re-writing of history with Wannstedt is always amazing to me. And its not like JJ inherited a garbage team himself, he inherited a good team and did nothing with it.

[MikeO]

Wannstedt inherited a very good team from Jimmy Johnson and drove it into the ground.  Wannstedt is the reason why the team has been terrible the past 10 or so years. 

This is just IGNORING facts. Wannstedt time in Miami...wins....11, 11, 9, 10 including a division title. That is driving it into the ground?? yeah the final year sucked and that's why he was fired. But saying he took over a good JJ team and drove it into the ground is just flat out WRONG! In fact the opposite, he took over a JJ team and made it BETTER! JJ only won 10 games once, never had double digit wins in Miami except for that one year.

[Rich]

Wannstedt kept getting double digit wins without a QB. That Fiedler was his chosen QB is irrelavent, we're talking about who is the better coach, not the better GM.

Sorry, but it isn't even debateable. As much as I disliked Wannstedt, Philbin makes me long for the days when Wannstedt was the coach.

[Brian Fein]

Interesting.  So it must be commonplace for NFL head coaches who accrue 43 wins in 4 seasons to get fired mid-way into a 4-win season.  I guess the standards in Miami during those days were insanely high...

Wanny has been a loser everywhere he has gone.  The fact that talented players (who could have probably had similar results with NO coach at all) got him a great record doesn't make him a great coach.

[Rich]

Interesting.  So it must be commonplace for NFL head coaches who accrue 43 wins in 4 seasons to get fired mid-way into a 4-win season.

I don't understand your post. You post numbers and present it as if it were impossible for something to happen that actually did happen. Not sure you're helping your argument here.

[dolphins4life]

This is just IGNORING facts. Wannstedt time in Miami...wins....11, 11, 9, 10 including a division title. That is driving it into the ground?? yeah the final year sucked and that's why he was fired. But saying he took over a good JJ team and drove it into the ground is just flat out WRONG! In fact the opposite, he took over a JJ team and made it BETTER! JJ only won 10 games once, never had double digit wins in Miami except for that one year.

Wannestedt's teams were loaded with talent, they should have done a lot better

[Rich]

Wannestedt's teams were loaded with talent, they should have done a lot better

On defense, but we had very mediocre talent on offense, aside from Ricky.

[dolphins4life]

Chambers?  MicMichael? in 2003 and 2002, they were both good

[MikeO]

Interesting.  So it must be commonplace for NFL head coaches who accrue 43 wins in 4 seasons to get fired mid-way into a 4-win season.  I guess the standards in Miami during those days were insanely high...

This is the NFL....YES!! Lovie Smith took the Bears to a Super Bowl, had a 10 win season his last year in Chicago and they still FIRED him!! If you dont' win enough in this league you get fired. Every situation is different but for Wannstedt YES one bad year is all it took.

[Spider-Dan]

I guess the standards in Miami during those days were insanely high...

In a word: yes.

Wannstedt had many members of this board calling for his head after a 10-win season.

[EDGECRUSHER]

Wannstedt had a Super Bowl quality team and screwed it up into a 9-7 season when Ricky Williams rushed for 1,800+ yards. His name offends me.