The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Anyone know why rumors are floating around regarding Miami's DC position? On the Phinatics site someone is hearing rumors about Venturi from the Saints and I am now seeing reports that Dom Capers is to be offered the job.

Don't we still have our DC? What a way to break the news to the guy.

There are a few names being thrown around...from the Sun sentinal...
The Dolphins filled the only opening on their coaching staff Sunday, hiring Mike Mularkey as offensive coordinator, but he may not be the only high-profile assistant added.

A source said coach Nick Saban is trying to add another assistant to help oversee the defense.

 Richard Smith and Will Muschamp essentially served as the unit's co-coordinators in 2005.

Saban, who declined comment on the situation Sunday, has a wide array of candidates because of the recent coaching upheaval across the NFL.

Saban is friends with former Houston coach Dom Capers and New Orleans defensive coordinator Rick Venturi, who may not be retained by new Saints coach Sean Payton.

Other defense-oriented coaches on the market include Joe Vitt (St. Louis), Donnie Henderson (New York Jets), Ted Cottrell (Minnesota), Jim Haslett (New Orleans), Vic Fangio (Houston) and Jerry Gray (Buffalo).

Jim Bates, who was the Dolphins' defensive coordinator from 2000 to 2004, will not be back at that post at Green Bay, but a source said a return to South Florida is unlikely.

Bates is reportedly a candidate for defensive coordinator with St. Louis and Houston.

From ESPN:

Like I said before about Mularkey,  I hope this guy is a better DC than head coach.  God, what the hell is happening?  Please tell me Saban knows what he's doing...   :-\

Obviously you know little about either of them.

    Has Coach Saban given you a reason to doubt him yet? 

Not yet.  I'll defer to him on these choices, because he hasn't yet been wrong in his selection of coaches.  I would've, however, preferred Mike Martz as OC. 

Nah, he's a total 'tard.  Hired Linehan...what's HE ever done?  Hired Hudson Houck...O-Line regressed.  Hired Charlie Bagget... Chris Chambers blew all season...Brought back Ricky...looked like he was running backwards.  Drafted Brown, Crowder, and Daniels...bust, bust, bust.  Changed the defense from a 4-3 to a hybrid 3-4...defense couldn't sack a statue.   

Have some faith, dude!  >:(

hey man, have faith in the Nicktator.    once a coach is used to being a HC like these 2 guys, ESPECIALLY the building & teaching that capers has experienced, they should be MORE than qualified to handle the duties of a coord.

i love the dripping sarcasm....lol

We'll have a staff with two guys as co-ordinators that were head coaches last season.  In addition to Saban's game plans and the other remaining underlings...

This is like an all-star dream team coaching staff!  I'm excited!

Welcome Mr. Capers, if you are reading this.

It is great to have a coach who kept friends. Let me extend my sincere condolence out to either Smith or Muschump (whomever will be fired as a result) and I hope this matter has no dark side of betrayal.

Most of the players found Saban's D kind of a learning process and it is kind of strange that after he seemed so involved in preaching his schemes last year, that he'd hand reigns over to someone else.

Miami had gone #18 in total defense in '05, a big step down from #8, though a key injury to Travis Daniels and the loss of Pat Surtain contributed to the fall. The Houston Texans? They went from a #23 ranking in '04 to next to last in '05 - unsure what happened there.

Good luck, though.

DUH,  obviously.  I tell you what though,  their respective knowledge in those fields really kept them as head coaches eh?

I agree, love the sarcasm also.  But at 3-7,  I know you, among many, were singing a different tune.  Especially when dude came out to the media saying that scores and records don't matter.  We all know these are rebuilding years and like I said,  I HOPE THEY ARE BETTER COORDINATORS THAN HEAD COACHES.  Because even Wannstedt as a HC had a pretty damn good defense,  his specialty.  How have these two faired in their so-called specialties?  Don't get me wrong,  I hope they kick ass,  and I do have a little faith,  but I usually go with results before I start praising people.  Following coordinators isn't my thing,  give me some stats because as of now I'm going by what they did as HC.

Houck from what I've always heard was a damn good O-line coach,  Linehan ran a pretty damn good offense in Minn.,  and those players he drafted, well,  if they sucked ass you wouldn't be talking about them now would you?  Chambers really never was a terrible receiver from what I've seen,  so getting him to play better wasn't that much of a miracle.  We shouldn't even be talking about Ricky Williams cause I was never against him coming back,  the man is flat-out talented and keeping him here to make us better doesn't take rocket science to figure out.  And the defense,  never really was a problem now was there?  We just didn't have the offense to make it respected. 

Exactly a lot of great coordinators never should have become head coaches. Its a different job. Dave Wans was brought here by JJ into a good situation, but he didn't have the skills to be in control of the situation over the long term.

Parts of Linehan's acceptance speech at Rams HQ were right out of the "we want other teams to hate playing against us," that was Saban's pre-season speil. Nicko will no longer be there to tell him, come down to the sidelines ...  listen to players.

But that's their problem. Capers is a great pick-up. He knows the Fins will have a great '06 season and he'll soon be back in the hunt for a H/C.   

Not sure about the hires, but I'll just put my faith in St. Nick.

I've said this a million times in other threads-

 Mularkey had the #5 and #3 offense in the league in two years at Pittsburgh, with Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox at QB. Imagine if he had a real QB (like we will hopefully soon have).

To look at one year and say Capers was not a good head coach is ridiculous. He took Carolina to the NFC title game in their second year of existence, meaning he knows how to evaluate talent. He helped Jacksonville become a top defense when he was their defensive co-ordinator. He then went to another expansion team. In his few years there, their win total rose every year, except this year. In fact, before this season, everyone predicted them to be 8-8 or better, based on the progress they had made over the last few years. I think he will be a great co-ordinator, despite not fairing well this season.

I have to admit,I love the idea of a Dom Capers defense.We're trying to go to a 3-4 /4-3 hybrid,and he's a proven D-Coordinator.

I feel he's going to be here for more than 1 year,he's sort of getting a reputation for a Franchise starter,but once going can't sustain the franchise.

Huh?  I groused about throwing the ball too much when the Dolphins had two stud running backs back there (the Atlanta game), but I did not question the head coach.  I've always been positive about Saban; you and I have argued his merits all season.  You know my long standing motto: "No matter how much football I know, any coach (high school, college, or pro)knows loads more than I do.  Therefore, I defer to his knowledge."

Just remember that they were not picking their players either.  Both had GMs doing the building & both did a rather weak job of it.

Thoughts or Grips?

Personally I love it!!

Welcome Ripley! We already have a thread going about this topic, so I am merging it with that one.

How exactly did 2 defensive coordinators cooexist on the same team? Who had the authority over the other? What happened if they called conflicting sets?

We're fans John,  that's all. It's ok to talk about and question things that happen in our favorite sport, and you aren't assuming any authority over Saban or any coach if you did. But discussing things like this is what keeps these subjects alive and interesting. If we all just said "good move"  to EVERY single transaction that ever happened,  this site wouldn't even be called "The Dolphins make me cry". 

True.  Very true.

Its official. Capers has been added to the staff as a Special Assistant to the Head Coach.

There is a saying that I think applies quite often:

You get promoted to your level of incompetence.

In other words, if you do a good job, you'll get promoted out of it.  This will continue until a) you reach the top or b) you start sucking at your new job.

BUF's former HC, Gregg Williams, is a good example.  Great DC, horrible HC.  And if he continues to be a great DC, he'll eventually get another HC job.

Looks like Smith may be leaving...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-capers25jan25,0,1547.story?coll=sfla-dolphins-front

Good call...that would be Dr Laurence Peter's "The Peter Principle"

"In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

As true in football as it is in the business world. Probably one of the good doctor's best quotes, though I really like his convoluted take on censorship as well:

"A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to."

"A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to."

Deep.....very deep!!!

As far as the new coaches go....
I am all for it!1 Both have excelled in their respective specialties. My only concern is them staying around!!

Smith has left for the Texans...

Dolphins lose defensive coordinator
By JASON COLE
jcole@MiamiHerald.com

A week after coming up just short of cleaning out his office, Dolphins defensive coordinator Richard Smith left the team to take the same job with the Houston Texans.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Smith will take that post under new coach Gary Kubiak. Smith had been talking with the Texans for more than week after the Dolphins hired former Houston coach Dom Capers to be a special assistant to coach Nick Saban.

Saban declined to comment on the report about Smith leaving.

Capers has an extensive background in the 3-4 defense that the Dolphins run much of the time and is a close friend of Saban for more than 30 years. Smith spent one year with the Dolphins after being hired from Detroit. He shared responsibility of the defense with assistant head coach for defense Will Muschamp.

Smith spent much of the time designing the defensive game plan, and Muschamp called most of the plays, although Saban had tremendous input on the defense. Under the new coaching staff, Saban has not