11/21/24
November 09, 2004
Dave's not here: Miami Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt is out. Wannstedt was 43-33 with the Dolphins, even with this season's 1-8 mark. How much of the burden of Miami's awful season can be placed on his shoulders, and is it right to fire a man who before this season had never won less than nine games with the Dolphins?
I'm sure Wannstedt the Coach is perfectly capable, but he has been twice thrown under a bus by Wannstedt the GM. In Chicago, he did a piss-poor job of drafting and making personnel decisions. He did the same in Miami. And with the Dolphins those poor decisions continued even when Wannstedt had been removed from the GM slot (AJ Feeley???).
posted by 86 at 11:03 AM on November 09, 2004
I'm happy to see him out - even when we had Ricky and a pretty darned good defence we still couldn't win enough to get into the play-offs. The Ravens can win with a QB throwing for 96 yards, so Dave can't fall back on a one-sided offence argument either. He's a good coach, who did a good job, but the Phish need more than a good coach, they need someone who can make a difference. I don't know who that person is, but, (even with the devil's curse on injuries this year and Ricky's retirement), I think it's clearly not Dave.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:55 AM on November 09, 2004
nice cheech & chong reference, wfrazerjr. i love that skit.
posted by garfield at 12:01 PM on November 09, 2004
Was her "fired" or did he really resign?
posted by daddisamm at 12:51 PM on November 09, 2004
According to ESPN, the Dolphins owner asked him to stay but Wannstedt decided it was a good time to leave (bye week and all).
posted by scully at 12:58 PM on November 09, 2004
DP, and others, on ESPN radio made it sound like it was the old pink slip made to look like he resigned under his own wishes
posted by daddisamm at 02:31 PM on November 09, 2004
I'm with 86 and think that teams need strong and separate coaches and GMs in the current environment. I can only hope for Dolphins fans that Huizinga agrees and brings in new men for both slots. AJ Feeley indeed!
posted by billsaysthis at 02:46 PM on November 09, 2004
posted by garfield at 03:46 PM on November 09, 2004
Here's a more local link on Wannstedt, who was apparently told that no matter what happened through the rest of the year, there would be a coaching change. Hell, I'd would have left too.