Steve Ross previously has tried anyone from every position to solve his football mess. The Miami Dolphins owner listened to former team executives Mike Dee and Matt Higgins, current team president Tom Garfinkel and exiled minority owner Bruce Beal about football decisions.
Ross also has leaned on NFL decision-makers such as former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson and Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy at different times.
None had the answer. Some led to major embarrassments. So, now Ross has gone the unconventional route of entering the broadcast booth for help. He’s hired ESPN analyst and Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman to consult on the general manager search in a statement of how pointedly desperate or purposely open-minded he is. Maybe both?
It’s not Ross alone making this decision. Son-in-law Danny Sillman, who has a sports-entrepreneurial background and has studied the team’s innards in recent years, is thought to be a rising voice in the organization on decisions like this. Aikman is empowered to conduct a genuine search for a GM, too, one that will cover the league and involve larger concepts like the structure of power inside the team and reshaping a dysfunctional personnel department.
Interim GM Champ Kelly will be interviewed like any other candidate. But that’s all he is at this point: Any other candidate.
Coach Mike McDaniel? Ross hasn’t made the decision on his future — or at least he hasn’t shared it inside the team, a source said. But the heavy sentiment is he will be returning as coach. The Aikman hire does involve some murky issues surrounding McDaniel, however, that seem even murkier to understand now.
For instance does Aikman tell prospective general managers they inherit McDaniel with the job? If so, does that limit the pool of candidates, considering some don’t know the coach and perhaps others wouldn’t want to work with him (or vice versa)?
Consider, too, that Aikman already had been hired by Ross when he sharply criticized McDaniel’s tactics and time management in broadcasting the Dolphins’ loss to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago.
“I’m flabbergasted by what we’ve witnessed here in this fourth quarter with the Dolphins,’’ Aikman said on ESPN that game. “And now they want to call timeouts. It just is about as ridiculous a fourth quarter as I’ve seen in a long time.”
Does it matter? Again, Ross seemingly wants to bring McDaniel back as coach, the internal chatter and tea leaves suggest. And Aikman, the source said, is simply charged with bringing general manager candidates to Ross and isn’t involved in the coaching question. But one bleeds into the other in some form, doesn’t it?
Underpinning all this is the basic question: Why Aikman? And can Ross get his thoughts on potential quarterbacks, too? Maybe work a two-for-one on consulting fees?
Aikman meets with the hierarchy of the two teams on his broadcast schedule each week, so there’s no question he has behind-the-scenes access that many don’t. This is the kind of access Ross needs in some form. Who’s smart around the league? Who’s really making decisions inside a certain team? How are other organizations structured and, as importantly, their personnel department built?
Aikman is privy to that in ways most aren’t. The bad news: He’s never hired anyone or built a team. The good news; He has contacts going back decades, even playing with an executive like New England’s senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith.
To further understand why Ross wanted Aikman, understand how Ross appreciated the role former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers had in counseling Washington Commanders’ owner Josh Harris.
Myers, like Aikman, was a franchise outsider who won championships before shifting to television. Unlike Aikman, Myers built a sports dynasty with his decisions — but in basketball, not football. So it’s not apples-to-apples. But the idea holds: Ross liked the idea of a winner from outside the organization helping him.
The question isn’t if Aikman knows football, understands winning or has inside access. It’s simply whether he can help Ross find a football mind to run and rebuild a front office that has been dysfunctional for years. Scouting, layers of management — it all needs redoing. That’s some good news, too. It’s the organization getting a makeover now, not just the roster.
Aikman once talked of having general manager desires, but told the Dolphins he didn’t sign on to name himself the best candidate. He’s not interested in the job, the team source said.
The other issue in play during this search is the structure of the new Dolphins. Since GM Chris Grier was fired in late October, Ross has had three people report as equals to him: McDaniel, Kelly and Brandon Shore, a team vice president dealing primarily with the salary cap.
Teams like Detroit, Chicago and the Los Angeles Rams have a similar three-headed structure. Do the Dolphins continue in this manner? And do they report directly to Ross or through an intermediary like, say, team president Tom Garfinkel?
All these questions are in play inside the Dolphins as they set to finish another disappointing season Sunday in New England. A year ago after the finale, Ross issued a statement that Grier and McDaniel would return.
No such statement will be coming Sunday. Ross felt so pained by firing Grier that he felt the need to have a full search rather than make the easier choice of just giving the job to Kelly.
Aikman will lead that search. Ross is so desperate to pull his franchise out of a football coma. He’s tried other accepted ways. Maybe this one works?
