Forbes Lede: "It’s hard to imagine that the word “leadership” and Miami Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross can be used in the same sentence. The seemingly absentee owner’s direction of the once proud Miami Dolphins franchise has landed them into an endless whirlpool of failure. With the Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders of the world, who have for more than a decade, considered to be the NFL’s poster children of ineptitude it’s hard to see the Dolphins in a similar light. But the fact is South Florida’s franchise has managed to carve a niche of ineptitude out all by themselves." "... loyalty has been Ross’ “Kiss of Death”for this franchise" "As loyal as Ross is, he also juggles too many voices in his ear in regards to the direction of the Dolphins. He’s consulted many respected minds around the league, yet cannot figure out what move is the right one. If it wasn’t Mike Tannenbaum (who is still new in his current position) it was also Carl Peterson, among a number of others. Ross’ attitude towards free agency and addressing roster issues was the same as his decisions in regards to front office leadership: “Here is my money, tell me how to fix it”. On one side of the coin many fans may argue that they would like an owner like that; one unafraid to spend to win. But on the other side fans may want an owner who is more hands on, maybe not a Jerry Jones type, but one who has a select few of advisers as opposed to an arsenal, essentially a game of musical chairs. But Ross’ loyalty has cost too much. Had Ross put the right people in charge, he may today be looking at the high-profiled team he had originally envisioned."
Is there a full article you can link to? Or is this just it? *Apologies, just realised you did that at the top of the post!
It's been my opinion that Ross has been the Fins biggest problem in the FO, I think he does too much, I think he should be more absentee, hire 1 guy to run the whole shabang and let him run it the way he wants to run it without interference.
I'm kind of indifferent on Ross I appreciate the fact that he will do anything he can to win financially but the article is spot on his loyalty to people is a good thing and most avenues except the NFL. It's a cutthroat business and the sooner Ross stays out of the hiring coaches process the better off we will be Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Agree completely. I don't dislike Ross at all. Love his willingness to do whatever it takes to win, but he needs to step back and let someone run the show.
I think that Ross generally means well, and wants the team to win. He clearly has the money. However, I also think that the NFL teams who do well over the long term seem to have owners who, after making their money elsewhere, make the team their primary and/or family business. Its not to say that doing so always works, but when you look at the very rich guys who buy a team but then continue to focus on their business interests (Ross, Johnson, Snyder, the Fords), most of them don't "get it right". The only real exception seems to be Seattle, and Allen seems to be smart enough to hire the right people and stay out of the way.
I think, and have thought, the Ross hate is too harsh. The guy is learning. Not sure why it should be expected that a person can be successful owner right off the bat. Take the whole loyalty thing....anywhere else in the world and that's considered a good thing. In the NFL, there's no such thing. Those are lessons that while they need to be learned, they also take time.
I think the story hit it right on the head. It's not like he don't care he just don't hire the right people to run the show.
I think that Ross is gradually doing better, but there's also the fact that he's 75. How long can the learning curve last before it dips in the other direction? I think it's likely that we have a different owner, one way or the other, 5-10 years from now.
Probably. My point was just the Ross hate is too harsh based on the actual circumstances. The other thing people aren't thinking of, is that there are no potential owners out there with experience. Whoever buys the team will not only have to learn, but they could be worse than Ross. I remember a lot of people didn't like Huzeinga and were glad when he sold.
I think most owners are inept when it comes to football operations. That's why these guys hire advisers. The billionaire just wants to flaunt that he owns a football team. This particular billionaire wants the flaunt that he has a good football team but he just doesn't have the football wits to get anyone around him with knowledge. And we're never gonna get anybody in our FO with knowledge if SR doesn't keep his hands off the steering wheel every couple years. Anyways, in recent history, we suck at drafting, we overspend in FA, we throw away valuable draft picks for next to nothing, or we accept valuable draft picks and waste them as we give up talent. None of this really has to do with Ross. It has to do with the people he's hired to manage the team. I would say this FO has one more draft before their fate is decided (assuming Ross has the balls to fire them) The main place where he f'd up is his loyalty to Philbin for an extra year after the humiliating let down last year. Lets hope lightning doesn't strike twice with Tannebaum and Hickey. If they **** up the next draft I want them both gone.
My hope is that Ross finally has a guy he trusts in Tannenbaum and stays out of his way. I'm not convinced that Tannenbaum is the perfect guy, but I am convinced that Ross would be far better off letting Tannenbaum run things than trying to step in and micromanage Tannenbaum or trying to to pick and choose when and where to interfere. Ross made the decision to hire Tannenbaum now he needs to trust that decision, get out of the way and let it play out.
Pretty much sums up my take on this as well. There's some things to be happy about with Ross. The big one really being the fact it seems he's really dedicated to making this team a success. He's opened up the vault many times before, likely will continue to do so. You really should want an owner to do that for you IMO. His problem has been not knowing what to do, and then relying on anyone and everyone to try and fix it for him, but making the wrong decision rather than listening to those he's hired and consulted with. The big thing for him to learn... Get a good football person, trust his judgement, and stay out of it.
I appreciate his efforts..I wish he would alolocate some of his ventures at this stage in his life and be more present, and I dont mean that in a meddling way..just take this franchise as your #1 project..maybe he has im not sure...
I like his attitude towards building the team, he wants a consistent winner and I don't think he will settle for anything less. The big problem I have with him is his ego getting in the way of firing Failbin after last year but as you point out it takes time to learn these lessons. He's O.K overall imho, I live in D.C so I know just how bad an owner can be. The RG3 trade everyone knows Sneider demanded set that franchise back at least 5 years.
Most people don't realize this but this is from the contributor side of Forbes online. These are mostly regular Yahoo's that have no journalistic education or experience. I know because my former boss is a contributor and I helped him get the slot. This is not from Forbes the financial magazine side with higher standards. It's a glorified blog post really so someone might send him a link and he might be fooled, but it ain't gonna be in the magazine. Look at the author's byline. Social Media/Internet Markter and Sports SEO (like my boss, he's writing this column to drum up business for his company) He's a marketer. Any article you read on Forbes, look at the author if it doesn't say Forbes Writer you can essentially discount it. This dude hawks SEO services.
So far, because he's a football idiot and thought queasy was the answer. Doesn't mean he won't learn from that and improve. It's not like he won't shell out the cash, what more can you ask for from an owner other than to write checks and stay out of football decisions? He's always paid the big bucks to try and help this team, he just needs to find the right football czar and let that individual do their job.
When he does that I'll give him credit. To this point he's been a bad owner who's embarrassed this franchise a number of times and really leaves you shaking your head virtually every time he opens his mouth.
Ross means well and pumps plenty of $$$ into this team. But he doesn't know his a-hole from his elbow when it comes to putting the right "football people" into place to steer the ship.
Loyalty itself isn't a bad thing. It's his loyalty to people who consistently didn't perform to standard. For example the Ravens would be right to stick with John Harbaugh for a while despite some unfavorable results. He's got a track record. He's helped win them a Super Bowl. What did Philbin ever do? I don't think the criticism is too harsh. Almost any person who watched last year knew it was time for Philbin to go. Except for Ross. Was Ross not aware at all the candidates like Bowles and Ryan who were out there last offseason? He didn't know those guys were big upgrades over Philbin? There's a difference between being a little green at a job and just being completely oblivious.