From 1989 to 2003, the Miami Dolphins did not have a losing season. Sure they had Hall of Famer Dan Marino playing quarterback and that helps tremendously, but Jay Fiedler (Jay Fiedler!) played QB the last four of those seasons. Their defense also was pretty outstanding many of those years, but the point is the people and fans in Miami were used to seeing a winning team.
Things changed pretty rapidly in Miami after that run of success. Once the Dolphins got rid of Dave Wannstedt, they hired Nick Saban who went 9-7 his first year but slipped to 6-10 before moving back to college. Miami had a major decision at that point: whom to hire as the replacement for Saban. They opted for Cam Cameron who was the offensive coordinator in San Diego. I didn’t like the hire for one simple reason: Cameron’s success was due more to his luck of coaching talented offensive players LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates, and Philip Rivers than his own abilities.
Turned out Cameron was ill-suited to be a head coach as his team went 1-15 before he wound up fired. At the same time, the Pittsburgh Steelers were searching for a replacement for long-time head coach Bill Cowher. They were expected to choose between Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm who were assistants on Cowher’s staff, but they went off the board and chose Mike Tomlin. The Dolphins actually made their hire before the Steelers did, meaning they potentially could have had Tomlin, who has been wildly successful in Pittsburgh. But why didn’t they hire him even after interviewing him?
According to The Miami Herald via Rotoworld, Tomlin was “Too hip-hop,” one Dolphins employee who had a say in that decision would say of Tomlin weeks later.
I have no idea what “too hip-hop” means, but I do know the Dolphins screwed that decision up pretty badly. Sure, without as good of personnel as he’s had in Pittsburgh Tomlin wouldn’t have been as successful, but there’s no doubt he’s a very good head coach. Tomlin’s gone 43-21 in four seasons, winning one Super Bowl and aiming for another on Sunday. Cameron went 1-15 and was fired. I’d say the Dolphins gagged on that decision pretty badly.
Oh, and best part of all, Tomlin plays Phil Collins in the locker room, not Wu Tang Clan.
