Tom Gamble is the frontrunner for Dolphins GM position, while other names surface
According to Armando, Stephen Ross spoke with Jeff Ireland about turning over some of his power as GM. That power, reportedly, would be moved to Aponte. Ireland decided he didn’t want to stay in a diminished role, so the two sides parted ways. I know, I know, you’ve all been waiting for this day and I’ve glossed over the fact that Jeff Ireland is finally gone. Don’t worry, I’m working on a special tribute to Jeff Ireland that will post later today or tomorrow. The truth is that the news broke as I was traveling and I’ve had limited access. Don’t fear, the loss of Jeff Ireland will be treated with the respect (and humor) it deserves!
We’ll get into who the new GM might be as the week goes on, but the big thing to understand now is that the Dolphins need this new GM to work well with Joe Philbin. Apparently Joe Philbin’s job is safe, which in my opinion is the wrong move to make. Apparently Dawn Aponte’s job is safe. Both of those things will make this GM search much more challenging as Armando states in this article (it’s a great read…read it!).
After the 2011 season, Stephen Ross painted himself into a corner by firing Tony Sparano and keeping Jeff Ireland. He failed to attract coaches like Jim Harbaugh and Jeff Fisher because of it. Now, just 2 years later, Ross has again painted himself into a corner. What’s worse, the rest of the NFL knows it. They know of the internal dysfunction that saw Ireland talking trash about the coaching staff during the collapses against the Bills and Jets (We were actually with him on that criticism). After the season, Ireland and Philbin weren’t even speaking with one another!
The names we mentioned as candidates may fit the mold of what Stephen Ross wants, but will he be able to make the position attractive to these candidates? Will a ‘rising star’ type candidate want to come into a situation where Philbin and Aponte are constantly working together to save themselves and gain more power?
If I were Stephen Ross, I would tell the new GM that they can come in and interview Joe Philbin. If the new GM does not think that Philbin is the right coach for the Dolphins moving forward, he should be let go. This is the best way to ensure that the new GM knows his power and can exert it immediately. Although he may not have learned his lesson for hitting the full reset button in 2011, Stephen Ross has never been stingy with dollars. He can make the Dolphins GM position attractive in one very simple way: Opening up that billion dollar wallet.