The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Bill Cowher is ready to come back and we're on his short list.  I like Cowher as a coach and I wouldn't be UPSET if we got him.  Of the "names" out there, he's the one I like the best.  However, I don't think it's a good long term fit for us.

1) I want a legacy coach.  I want a guy who's going to be here for 15 years.  Cowher, like JJ, like Parcells, is going to be here for 5 years and then hand off the franchise, more than likely.

2) We have QB problems.  Maybe it's personnel, maybe not, but if we bring in a new coach, he will be paired with a new QB.  Cowher isn't exactly the best when it comes to QBs.  How many bums did he coach over the years?

3) Cowher is a lot like Sparano (a win ugly kind of coach).  I think that a lot of the things that I'm frustrated with in regards to our current team, like punting on 4th and short, playing conservatively, etc will continue with Cowher.

Comparing Sparano to Cowher is like comparing a go-cart to a Lincoln Town Car

Cowher is a proven winner.

Thing is if you can win in Pittsburgh chances are you can win almost anywhere...  I say that because the Steelers have always been fickle with paying their players.  So turnover is always high in Pittsburgh.  I'm not sure about Cowher but before burning out he was in Pittsburgh for the long haul... maybe his second stop might be the same type of stop?

Pittsburgh is arguably the most successful franchise in the history of the NFL, and their success both predates Cowher and continues without him.

The Rooneys are the engine behind the Steelers.  Don't get it twisted.

Never said they weren't successful... I was speaking about how it's known NFL wide they are not big on paying big player salaries.  Of course this has seem to change a bit over that last few yrs too!

What I was really pointing out was if, Cowher can win with a fickle owner he should be able to do much more with a generous one...

How many people calling for Cowher on this board would have kept him through years 7, 8, and 9 of Pitt? These were 5 years before his lone Super Bowl win of 2005. 

1998   7-9         3rd in AFC Central
1999   6-10       4th in AFC Central
2000    9-7        3rd in AFC Central

Edited to add ... I agree with all three of Dave's points with my biggest peeve is playing the same offensive football we have been playing since Jimmy took over.

I disagree 100%.  The Steelers aren't Bills cheap (as in spend in total significantly less than the cap allows) they are Patriots cheap (won't spend more money on a player than he is worth, but spend all the money available to balance out the team).

You are saying if you can win a with fiscally responsible team that doesn't waste money on big name hasbeens then you can certainly win with an owner that has no clue about football but is star struck.  Nah....if that was the case then anyone could take the Redskins to the superbowl.

The Steelers have an outstanding system, top to bottom.  Coach is only small piece of their success.  You could almost say that he is "a system coach"  Steelers coach is not the one man show that is Bill Belichick and the NEP.  Which actually is very much to the benefit of the Steelers long term.   When BB retires it will hurt the NEP a lot more than any coach retiring for the Steelers. 

The absolutely best thing you can say about Cowher is the Steelers hired him.  The organization doesn't go about hiring coaches by drawing names out of a hat or grabbing the newest shinny star.  If Cowher wasn't an outstanding fit for the Steelers they would not have hired him.  That is a pretty strong endorsement, they are excellent talent evaluators.  But just cause he was the prefect fit for the Steelers doesn't mean he is the perfect fit for the Dolphins. 

If Miami were to chase down a coach, sign me up for Gruden.

Lord, please...sign me up for Gruden.

Bring in Chuckie.  For the love of CHRIST.

I'd be a little worried about Cowher in Miami too...if I were a Patriots fan. :)

dave hyde captured it good in his column today...

Let's look how a few are doing today to gain perspective on the problem.

1. Mike Mularkey. He was Nick Saban's whipping boy. People ripped him. He's at 12-2 Atlanta now, has Matt Ryan at quarterback and - presto! - he's overseeing an effective offense. The Falcons are the fifth-best scoring team in the league at 26.4 points a game.

2. Cam Cameron. Yes, he was over his head as coach in 2007. But he also ran the offense that appeared lost. He's running 10-4 Baltimore's offense now. Joe Flacco is his quarterback and suddenly Cameron knows what he's doing. The Ravens are the 12th-best scoring offense, are playoff-bound and Flacco is developing nicely.

3. Chan Gailey. Dave Wannstedt's offensive coordinator, if you care to remember. And what a conservative offense that was. But now he's Buffalo's coach, oversees the Bills offense and has found a possible franchise quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick as the Dolphins found out Sunday. Fitzpatrick wasn't made quarterback until the third game this year. The Bills started 0-8. But in the second half of this year, the Bills are 4-2 as Fitzpatrick has 23 TDs against 12 interceptions.

bring in whomever coach savior you want, and you still have the same shit at qb. wanna turn this team into a contender, whomever is coach needs to find a damn starting caliber nfl qb.

no one wants another freaking dan marino. a freaking ryan fitzpatrick will do at this point.

I'm not convinced Fitzy is any better than Henne.  I think the coaching staff puts Fitz into a better position to succeed.

Now, that said, I am officially off the Henne wagon.  The guy sucks.  But I think a lot of his sucking is a direct line to the coaching staff.

just my crappy opinion, but what henne sucks at just isn't coachable. he sucks at decision making... the final drive puts an exclamation point on that. 40 seconds, no timeouts, instead of throwing it away, you throw it short to a receiver that can't get out of bounds???

Not worried.  I wasn't disagreeing that Cowher is a good coach. 

I was disagreeing with the notion that it would be harder to be successful in an organization that is fiscally conservative and smart, than one that wastes money on FA hasbeen stars.

^^ Agreed, just giving you a hard time. :)

I'm not so sure that Cowher's record isn't a product of the system in Pittsburgh.  It's obvious that the ownership there is a huge part of their success.

It's just my opinion too but that is one of the FEW things that IS coachable.  You can't coach arm strength or accuracy or leadership, you either have those things or you don't, but decision making most definately can be coached.  The history of the NFL is full of QB's who didn't make great decisions early in their careers, but later blossomed.

Henne has thrown 26 TD's and 30 INT's in his first 2 years so far.

The Chargers had given up on Drew Brees who threw 28 TD's and 31 INT's in his first 2 years starting in the NFL, now he's one of the best QB's in the league.  The Titans had given up on Vince Young who had thrown 21 TD's and 30 INT's in his first 2 years starting and this year threw for 10 TD's and 3 INT's. 

I just don't get the Gruden hype! ???

He was pretty good at Oakland but won his super bowl in Tampa with Tony Dungy's players. Look what happened after in Tampa....

Even Tony Dungy couldn't win it all with Tony Dungy's players. And what team did Gruden face in the Super Bowl? Just sayin...

So is Parcells.  So was JJ.  So was Saban.

Just because you've won before doesn't mean that you have what it takes to build up a franchise again.  Cowher is a great coach, but he's already been through the ringer.  He will likely demand a lot of power, won't be in for the long haul, and won't have the patience to stick with things if they don't work out right away.

Sparano and Cowher have a similar outlook on the game.  Their conservative style is the same.  That is a apt comparison.

Not a crappy opinion at all.  Well said, I agree 100%.

Dungy built that team and had he been given one more yr he may have won it with his players!

But what did Tampa and Gruden do after that super bowl?

Didn't Dungy go to Indy and win a super bowl?

Just sayin...

Dungy's role in Indy was pretty minor.  Bill Poulin is the brains of that operation. 

Bill Polian also oversaw a team that went from 13-3 to 10-6 to 6-10 with a veteran Peyton Manning at the helm.  Dungy came in, immediately put them back in the playoffs, then rattled off 6 straight 12+ win seasons and a championship.  I think he deserves a good deal of the credit.

And regardless of Dungy's work in Indy, his work in TB stands above almost any other coaching job ever.  There was no more pathetic organization in the history of the NFL, and he made them relevant almost singlehandedly.

Agreed!

He wants to give credit to Gruden but non to Dungy? ::)

Crazy!! Cowher has been to numerous AFC Championship games. 2 Super Bowls. Won 1. And might go to the Hall of Fame as a coach.

Sparano has done nothing in his career and in 3 years as a head coach shown nothing at all. NOTHING!

Stop comparing the 2. It's like comparing John Beck to Dan Marino!! It's laughable!

The thing about the Steelers is that they form their teams from the bottom up, meaning they get good lineman, which makes it easier for the RB's and QB to succeed.  I'd be curious to know just how much input Cowher had in player selection.  That said he is about the only person I would like to see replace Sparano at this point.

Dude, Sparano took a 1 - 15 team to the playoffs..so don't say he hasn't done nothing..don't get pissy because it's hard times..

As far as Cowher is concerned, it’s history repeating itself my friends..once upon a time we had a coach by the name of Don Shula, perhaps you’ve heard of him?  Coached Miami for nearly 30 years..only to be RUN OUT OF MIAMI because Jimmy Johnson wanted to coach in Miami.  And because he had 3 ring to Shula’s 2, it happened.  Let’s ignore the fact that Jimmy Johnson was the most over-rated coach in the history of the NFL (Herschel Walker trade..enough said), now you’re going to run Sparano out of town because Cowher has a ring and Sparano doesn’t…a) I’m not comparing Sparano to Cowher..so don’t rape the keyboard just yet..and b) no one has head coached 2 different teams to Super Bowl victories, and that streak will continue. Why? Because if you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it..it’s JJ all over again, awesome resume..retired once already..will coach for 2 or 3 years..and be over it again and go back in the booth talking doing what we do but on a much grander scale.  If a coaching change is going to be made (and I don’t think it needs to, but IF), then it needs to be for a dude who’s going to be the coach for a long time to come, and actually STICK with the god damn plan.  Miami needs consistency in the worst way . This constantly changing coaches thing is terrible, i.e. in the last 10 years for every QB change in Miami, an OC changed with it (more or less), and that affects the entire offense, between plays, audibles, etc. You can't expect production if you have to foget everything you learned the previous year..year in and year out

I am not saying that one is better than the other.  I'm saying that they have similar conservative styles.  ...which they do.


I could compare Beck and Marino by saying that they were both Dolphins quarterbacks.  ...which they were.  So that would also be true.  You see, that's how comparisons work.  Just because you say that two things have 1 similarity does not mean that they must also be similar in all other aspects.  Please tell me understand this basic thought process.

It's simple really.



Dave says: "Apples and Oranges are both fruit."
MikeO says "That's crazy! Apples are red!"

Sometimes they're yellow and green.  :D

How is Bill Cowher conservative? Seriously. Just because he pounded the ball with Bettis all thsoe years doesn't mean he is conservative. It means hes smart cause he gave the ball to his best player and won games!

If Sparano goes at the end of the season, the Dolphins best bet is to bring in Jim Harbaugh from Stanford.  The guy has had a load of experience playing in the NFL and has put Stanford in the top ten. 

I'd rather see a young coach like Harbaugh come in from Stanford than Cowher come in out of retirement as well...

I suppose that I just prefer "hungry" as a motivator more than "bored."

Now this I  agree with!

Harbaugh would be my choice over Cowher as well... I'm really not a Cowher fan but would take him over Gruden!

After a Harbaugh,  Cowher or Gruden what other coaches are there out there?

You just summed up my opinion on why there will NEVER be a head coach that comes out of retirement to win a ring with a second team. 

I could see a SB winning coach that got fired, doing so.  Let say if Caughlin was much much younger, gets fired by the Giants then goes to Cowboys, Eagles or Redskins, hell bent on proving the Giants wrong.   

Cowher could be some teams equivalent of Miami's Bill Parcels.

^^^ I'll stop short of saying there "will never be...," because "never has been" is rarely a good stand-alone argument to support "will never be," but I think we stand a better chance with a young intelligent head coach who is out to prove he deserves the opportunity.

I'd rather see us go after either Harbaugh or someone else who can run a modern pro offense.  Aside from that, I really don't have any other issues with this team.  The defense has played really well although they aren't getting may turnovers. 

Since the novelty of the wildcat wore off, I don't see any kind of offensive cohesion other than we can run the ball on 3rd or 4th and 1

I'm not for making a change,but I'd take Harbaugh,and Kubiak as O - Coordinator (Yes, I think Kubiak is gone as Texans Head Coach)

I think we should hire former Montana Tech HC, Bob Green. OK, not really, but after reading some of his press conference quotes (link to article below), I think he should at least be part of the public relations department, just for entertainment's sake.

http://sports.espn.go.com/blog/rick-reilly-go-fish/post/_/id/756/will-somebody-please-hire-coach-bob-green (http://sports.espn.go.com/blog/rick-reilly-go-fish/post/_/id/756/will-somebody-please-hire-coach-bob-green)

A couple of my favorites:

"We had an interception chance, and we caught the ball. An interception chance is like a date with the homecoming queen -- close the deal. Don't waste an opportunity."
(Miami DB's...did you catch that?)

"It was a team effort. Everybody contributed with poor play."

^^^

"I hate to sound like an old coach but I am an old coach. I was coaching when the Dead Sea was only sick."

I totally agree.  I would be interested in seeing Boise State's coach.  That guy has balls.

One more thing about a new coach vs. a Cowher-type:

You know how young directors (a la Speilberg and George Lucas) made really groundbreaking films early in their careers?  It was because they found ways to turn problems into opportunities.  The mechanical shark in Jaws never really worked right, because of budget constraints and Speilberg wasn't "the man" yet to demand that he get a replacement, so he made some of his best stuff through creatively dealing with that limitation.

Coaching is the same way.

Cowher is big enough of a name to come in and hand pick all of the assistants, players, drafts, trades, staff, etc.  That creates group-think.  It's sometimes better to not always see eye to eye with those you work with on every little thing, so that you can come up with different, creative ways to tackle problems.

With Cowher's wife dying this year, I don't think he would be bored. I think he would sink himself in his work to forget about "real life"

Just the way I see it

That's cool, and I sympathize with his loss...but that still doesn't equate to "hungry."

Besides...Cowher should go to my 49ers instead. ;)

Bill Cowher is not a good fit for the Miami Dolphins.

I've never been impressed with Cowher. He inherited talent from Chuck Noll and with all the talent that ran through Pittsburgh, he should have had more than one Super Bowl win.

Cowher would be a three yards and a cloud of dust kind of coach. That's why Cowher and Big Ben were at odds. If you've got a QB that can throw the ball, why be predictable on first and second down and run all the time?

The Dolphins need an offensive minded coach that is relatively young which has been in NFL circles for a while. The names that come to mind are Marc Trestman, who was with the Dolphins as an offensive quality assistant and Jim Harbaugh of Stanford. I like Harbaugh the best because he was a quarterback and had most of his success under Ted Marchibroda with the Colts.

If Miami can keep Mike Nolan, then I would hire a guy that can run an offense.

And remember, Harbaugh was the guy that took a 9-7 Colts team into the AFC Championship, a game that the Colts had no business being in, and almost beat COWHERS Steelers on a Hail Mary on the last play of the game.

The Dolphins need to stop chasing these "name brand" coaches and get someone who is innovative and up and coming (see Sean Payton and Mike Smith for the Falcons). The only time a name brand coach has worked for Miami is when they acquired Don Shula in 1970.

Dolphin fans haven't learned yet and the Miami press is much worse. Fans clamored for Jimmy Johnson and look what happened...he quit. Wannstedt couldn't hack it. Nick Saban, who I thought would be very successful, couldn't handle it and bolted. Skip Cam Cameron because the Dolphins front office clearly went to sleep on him. Now, it's Parcells who has bolted (probably because the circus environment with all the celebrities and other stuff that surrounds the Dolphins).

We need a fresh innovative mind as a head coach.

^ Great post.

Welcome to the site!

Seriously that's like the 200th time I've heard that. Fans making decisions for professional sports teams... If this Miami Dolphins team we have now is a direct result of the fans, then sign me up for the "fans need to quit making the decisions" bandwagon. ...and dont give me any of the, "they inherited a bad team junk." This is a different roster with plenty of time to have shown some change.

exactly. If they didn't waste high picks on bums like Pat White, Patrick Turner, and Sean Smith then maybe we would be in the playoffs right now. This group failed.  Time to face facts.