Ross to make last-minute pitch to Harbaugh

I've seen many strange situations with the Dolphins. I call it the theater of the absurd. This one ranks right up there.

Imagine Dolphins billionaire owner Stephen Ross, general manager Jeff Ireland and former Kansas City Chiefs president Carl Peterson on the same private jet pointed toward San Jose, California. All of them are of so vastly disperate backgrounds and experiences. All of them are convinced they are like-minded in their purpose.

And their purpose?

Hiring college whiz kid coach Jim Harbaugh away from Stanford University -- out from under the nose of the San Francisco 49ers.

By offering him around $7 million. At least $7 million.

All this while incumbent coach Tony Sparano, apparently out in the cold despite previous assurances from Ross, waits helplessly  back in South Florida for a fate that seems more likely to include a firiring than a reprieve.

That's how it looks if this ESPN report from late Wednesday is completely accurate.

The report gives me a strange feeling because it shows to what extreme Ross is willing to go to get the coach he clearly has targetted as of 7 o'clock hour (EST) Wednesday to become Miami's next head coach. (That is not a bad thing, by the way, but the timing is intriguing considering his search began Monday.)

Ross would be making his second run at Harbaugh because I have confirmed the Dolphins spoke with Harbaugh already and he wasn't all that impressed with their first pitch. The fact is the Dolphins felt they had other options than Harbaugh after that first, failed pitch because I have confirmed the Dolphins were planning to make a run at Jeff Fisher.

But Fisher is apparently staying at Tennessee -- although not official. Harbaugh, meanwhile, wasn't totally blown away by the San Francisco 49ers in a meeting he had with that team Wednesday. So both sides are giving each other another chance Thursday morning.

This bothers me.

It bothers me because Ross is trying to create a monster. 

Some background: I have confirmed Ross met with Dolphins consultant Bill Parcells over the weekend as my column last Sunday said he would to discuss the state of the team and gain advice on a next move. And a person whose been told some details of that meeting tells me Parcells told Ross the team is capable of getting into the playoffs if he's patient and stays the course for 2011. Ross indicated to Parcells he was going to give both Sparano and Ireland one last year in 2011 to turn the Dolphins into a playoff team.

But on Sunday, the Dolphins got pummeled by the Patriots and, as this ditty said, that seemed to change everything for Ross. Ross decided to keep Ireland but try to upgrade from Sparano.

So where's the monster?

Continuity and change are opposites. Ross is trying to make them brothers.

Ross is effectively trying to put a new coaching head on the remnants of the personnel department body Parcells left him in Ireland. He is trying to match Harbaugh with Ireland. He is trying to make the new coach the face of his franchise and putting him atop a personnel department that gave the Dolphins a 7-9 record in 2010.

Here's a question: How is it Jeff Ireland has been completely spared of review but not Sparano? How is it the coach is up for being replaced because he didn't get enough out of the players, but the general manager who provided the players that didn't deliver gets a vote of confidence?

What about Ireland made Ross tell Bill Cowher -- BILL COWHER! -- "we want you but only if you accept coming with our general manager already in place."

Are you kidding me?

There are, of course, no sure-fire moves. You should remember there has been no Super Bowl winning coach who won another Super Bowl with another organization. But, you should also note that not too many college coaches, which Harbaugh is, have made the successful leap to the NFL lately.

At any rate, Thursday should be interesting.

Ross, Ireland and Peterson will make their pitch to Harbaugh. Ross will offer to throw gobs of money at Harbaugh, certainly more money than either San Francisco or Denver are likely to offer. Ireland may promise to get Harbaugh the type of talent he failed to get Sparano. And all of them will try to Harbaugh a comfort level with a club structure that seems strange perhaps only to me.

Ross is on the line here. He's picked his sword. He has decided to listen to Peterson and not Parcells. He has annointed Ireland while casting down Sparano. And now he has one last hope of luring the attractive coach he covets.

We'll see what happens.

Comments

[DC Dolfan]

Yes Joe, just like we were 4-5 plays from being in the Playoffs.

No, I'm joking, Harbaugh was a pretty good QB. Michigan too.

[dm1dophan]

all i know is i am tired of seeing this team lose. i have been a fan since the early 70's and i still remember czonka running over defenders. i've lived thru many dissapointing seasons with teams that were not competitive and plenty of qb's that couldn't do the job and i'm tired of seeing things like the wildcat employed. to me it says they don't know what else to do. if you can run the ball you can run the ball. plain and simple. you don't need to run plays from the wildcat. they need to decide that they are going to settle down and do the job they need to do to win games. there is no reason why this team shouldn't be in the playoffs on a more consistent basis like the patriots. they need a coach who can inspire this team to win and sparano doesn't seem to do be capable of doing that. it's not so much the talent you have on the team, it's what you do with it. they had 2 years to prepare henne to run the offense. they have an offensive line that can't block for the run. why is that? is there that much of a difference in the talent they have on their OL vs other teams. yeah, they had injuries but the difference between good teams and great teams is the great teams work through their injuries and still play well enough to win. great teams develop all of the talent they have so, when there is an injury, they don't lose much. look at miami's defense. i don't ever recall this team having a defense with this much depth at DL and LB as they have this year. and they would have had even more depth if they kept micah johnson and eric walden. all i know is, enough is enough, it's time to start winning. fire sparano and move on.

[Darryl Dunphy]

That was the year the Stillers lost to the Crackwagon. Cowher v. Switzer 1995.

[cowkilla]

And still some of you think Henne can be fixed. It isn't going to happen, Henne is Henne.

[d-dense]

Hey Andy,

Didn't Henne go to Michigan?

[ALoco]

COWER THE CHINESE HYENEA WONT GET HIS 100 MILLON DOLLARS TO DRINK WHISKY, RUM, VODKA IN ((BAHMAHAS ISLAND)) WITH OPHRA WINFRY IN THERE SECRET CASTEL. MR SPOCK AND TABATHA FROM BEWICHED HAVE WARN MR ROSS OF HIS EVIL PALN

BIRTHDAY OF YOUNG 12/35/1943 SAME DAY AS PEARL HABOR

MCNABB CROSS THE STREET IN WHEEL CHAIRT

[cowkilla]

No one can fix Henne, he is what he is

[dying breed]

Ii love to eat cat food and hummus .

[danny rodriguez]

I think if Sparano won at least half of the games at home we probably won't been talking HC change so I say them looseing at home is a blessing in disguise! Or we will have to put up with mediocrity for another year! What you guys think?

[NHFINSFAN]

Harbaugh's wife was searching Miami Real Estate listings via Zillow.com

[Chris in the 623]

I think some of what Henne does can be coached up while some cannot. Looks like a career backup to me. Which I might add ain't a bad gig if you can get it.

[Home]

Vince Young was born May of 1983

He is 27

Old?
Get a Clue

[BoulderFinFan]

people Harbaugh is not coming here to play QB, he's here to be the coach. Why does it matter how good a QB he was in the NFL. Although he looks like he could still play. Maybe he can become our QB and call the plays in the huddle just like BM want him to.
He won't be too much worst than henne, even right now.

[dolfdan13]

NO ONE WANTS TO COACH THE DOLPHINS. PERIOD.

NO QB FOR +10 YEARS, NO REAL COACH FOR +10 YEARS.

C'MON GLORIA ESTEFAN OWNS THE TEAM.

[Joe Schmoe]

Danny, if he had won half his home games with our road record, we'd be in the playoffs. Safe to say that would have netted him an extension lol

[ALoco]

VICE YOUNG AND THE HYENEA COWER LIARS ABOUT THERE AGE! COWER IS IN CHINA YEARS SO HE IS 88 YEARS OLD IN AMERICA YEARS. VINCE YOUNG MADE A PACK WITH THE DEVIL AND IS VERY ELDERSLY BUT DOESNT LOOK OLD LIKE THE LADY ON BEWICHED.

[madmax12]

If you don't think Sparano should be fired how do you feel about another year with horrible offensive play calling, a horrible o-line or a Qb that is stuggling because he coaches him not to make mistake and got into his head. What makes you think this combo of Henning and Sparano wouldn't do this to another young QB.
Why hasn't he not fired Henning? Because he doesn't have a clue how to coach.

[Mark in Toronto]

I remember harbaugh engineering a huge comeback win for the Colts in Miami against Dan Marino.

That one sucked.

[dolfdan13]

firing people doesn't make you a good coach.

[Poizen]

cowkilla, I reslectfully disagree. the guy has had some great games when the line played consistant. He has been over coached a ton in my opinion.

His biggest obsticle is knowing when to break the rules, but he also has to be allowed to make that decision once in a while, again over coaching.

We will truly not know until the future. I just hope they do not cut ties with him yet.

STILL GET ANOTHER GUY HERE THOUGH!!

[Darryl Dunphy]

Alright fellas.I'm out for a few days...Ski trip to Big Sky. Supposed to be 6 -8 inches of new powder tommorow. My new chick wants to learn how to telemark ski.She is going to suffer and will no doubt be on her snowboard by noon! Later....

[Poizen]

Have fun DD, Enjoy vaca.

[danny rodriguez]

Joe true, the same thing happen to Randy Shannon, you have to win at home or you loose your job period! Jason Garret new head coach in Dallas just in while I was posting

[JB]

Mark,

I think I was at that game, didn't Marshall Faulk tear us a new one in that game as well?

[Joe Schmoe]

firing people doesn't make you a good coach.

Posted by: dolfdan13 | January 06, 2011 at 11:36 AM

Very good point.

[KJ]

Tell there aren't people who actually think how good/bad a guy was as a PLAYER matters one bit in their coaching ability. Are you kidding me?

If that's the case, somebody better alert Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Bud Grant, Jeff Fisher, Tom Landry and a whole bunch of others who were completely MEDIOCRE pro football players but superb coaches.

You think maybe the guys with marginal talent might stick around because of...brains?

What a concept, I know.

[dm1dophan]

No discussions about what was working and what wasn't. No meetings on the bench to look at overhead photos of the Patriots' coverage.

"I don't see any interaction between the receivers and quarterbacks," Dolphins radio analyst Jim Mandich said during the game. "Very odd."

this is the way i've seen it all year. henne goes to the bench. no conversations with coaches about coverages or with receivers. why is that? where was the coaching staff? where were the receivers? i'm not an nfl coach but even i am smart enough to know that when the qb goes to the sideline he should be discussing with the oc and other offensive coaches and wr's what kind of coverages they are seeing from the defense and how they feel they can exploit the coverages. they also get feedback from the wr's about plays they think will work. this coaching staff didn't seem to care about anyone's input but their own. strangest thing i've ever seen. maybe that is the micromanaging thing players were talking about; being told, "this is what you need to do" instead of getting players input.

[Home]

Brocolli makes green poops

[Home]

Dolphins Need a QB
Period

Vince Young did play and get some experience in the Pro Bowl in 2010
Collins was the one w a bad start, not Young

Some of u
Simply dont know your football, yet still engage your mouth

Fact is Young plays much better than Henne in ALL ASPECTS of the game

How bout we educate U a bit:

On October 29, 2009, following a disappointing 0–6 start to the season, Coach Fisher announced that Young would replace Collins as starter. Titans owner Bud Adams had reportedly urged Fisher to give Young more playing time following the team's 59–0 loss to the New England Patriots on October 18, and became even more insistent during the team's bye week that followed. Fisher nonetheless withheld announcing the change "for competitive reasons" until the Thursday afternoon before the Titan's next game, on Sunday, November 1, against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Upon announcing the change, Fisher further stated: "I'm still in Kerry Collins' corner because I don't believe that our record is a reflection of the quarterback play," Fisher said. "It's a reflection of the team play. I'm still in his corner, but we've decided to go ahead and make this change.

Young won eight of his ten starts in the 2009 campaign. The 2009 Titans are the first team in NFL history to win five straight after losing their first six games. On November 29, 2009, Young led the Titans on a two minute thirty-seven second, ninety-nine yard drive at the end of their game against the Arizona Cardinals, capping it with a game-winning touchdown pass to Kenny Britt as time expired. The Titans won 20–17. Incidentally, due to an injury to Cardinals' starting QB Kurt Warner, this would mark a rematch of the 2006 Rose Bowl between Young and Cardinals' back-up QB Matt Leinart.

Young finished 3rd in the bidding for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award behind Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Carnell Williams and the winner, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Shortly there after, Young was announced as the Sporting News comeback player of the year.[

Young played in the 2010 Pro Bowl, taking the roster spot of the injured Phillip Rivers after Big Ben and Carson Palmer declined to replace the San Diego Chargers Quarterback due to their own respective injuries.It was the 2nd Pro Bowl appearance of his career, his first being after his 2006 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award winning season.

[KJ]

Henning has already retired. The team is not required to breathlessly inform you of this.

Seriously, this stuff about "why haven't they fired him yet" really comes across as ignorant.

Henning wasn't going to return this year regardless of who was coaching.

[Mark in Toronto]

Sparano made what $16m off this team and still people feel sorry for him? He should have to set up this financial reporting template I'm working on today - that would make him some of his self esteem back. make him feel like he's earning his money.

I for one would love our coah to make $8m a year. That way when a fat mouthed guy like Marshall speaks out of turn - the coach can actually say - I make more than you and my contract is guaranteed so who do you think the owner will side with??? There is no salary cap for coaches - spend away if it's the right guy!!!

[danny rodriguez]

If we get Harbaugh Mr Ross is going to give his new coach the weapons to succeed because if he going pay that kind of money that he has to give him the tools!!

[dm1dophan]

you can talk all you want about vince young. he ain't going to end up in miami; at least not as a starter.

[Home]

Also I can educate you in that, I like to wear tutu's and flit around with my fairy godmother.

[DC Dolfan]

Wrong ALoco. I want to coach the Dolphins. Then you all can hate on me as I trade every draft pick we have to move up and draft a QB!

[Mark in Toronto]

JB, when didn't Marshall Faulk tear us a new one. I think that's the year Indy also upset KC in their joint as the #6 seed (KC was #1) and harbaugh earned the name Captain Comeback - made it all the way to the AFC championship game.

[KJ]

Mr. Ross, please listen to us fans and run your team the way WE would!! We want to be just like the Redskins!!!

Dumb turds.

[ALoco]

HOME NEEDS TO SHUT UP

[NHFINSFAN]

Hmmm...$5M vs. $7M
No income tax in FL...CA most taxed state.
SF Bay area = worst traffic in the nation
Miami = warm year round

Now onto football:

SF = 22 draft pics over next two years
MIA = 18 pics

QB = SF has the Smith guys, both medicore
MIA = Henne & Thigpen

Defense = MIA #4 ranked in NFL
SF = #16

After all the variables come into play, the person with the most influence is Harbaugh's lovely wife.

Yep...it's always the woman who dictates where she wants the family to live and until we know what's going on in her little head, we can only watch & wait.

[danny rodriguez]

We mind as well trade all draft picks because we cant hit on our first round pick anyway!!

[Standley23]

Mrs. Harbaugh better be able to cook, because i herd Mrs. Sparano can get down in the kitchen!

[Poizen]

Dm, If you look really closly, EVERY TIME, good or bad plays, when Henne comes to the bench, Lee is up his Arse. It was like he could not breath. I thought it was a good thing, but it really wasn't. Marshall half way through the season also kinda of wrote him off.

but Lee seem'd to be attached to his Hip.

[Home]

Vince Young FA signing
&
Cam Newton 2011 Draft signing

would extremely elevate the Miami Dolphins at QB position and give them at least a shot to compete in the AFC EAST
Realistically the Dolphins have NO shot w current QBs

as a matter of fact with current QBs

The Dolphins Suck
Period

[Chris in the 623]

For what it's worth, Mel Kiper's 1st draft big board has Miami taking Justin Blackmon at 15. He has Luck, Gabbert and Newton already gone with Mallett and Luck going later in the 1st round.

[ALoco]

YOU MEAN YOU SUCK PERIOD

[NHFINSFAN]

Yo Home....yesterday you were all about drafting Cam Newton

today...it's all Vince Young

Make up your fu**ing mind!

[Chris in the 623]

My bad, Locker I mean.

[KJ]

You forgot to add that San Francisco also has the the highest percentage of college grads in the country.

Safe to say South Florida does not.

Not sure if "being around smarter people" is a criterion for Harbaugh. Hope not!

[Home]

Home needs to run for Miami Herald Dolphins Chairman of Blogging

Period

ALoco needs to eat out of another cold can of chef boy r dee and tell us bout the asparagus soup & Lobster thermidor dinner that he eats w his warped culinary imagination

[JB]

Yes its coming back to me, Harbaugh was pretty arrogant back then, really disliked him.

Yes Faulk always ripped us as well as Thurman Thomas back in those days.

[cuban menace]

i like to eat dog food with a spoon .

[home]

i love making fool of my self .

[Joe Schmoe]

I am flying to Miami to interview with Steve Ross tonight. I will be asked by Jeff Ireland if my mom was a prostitute and I will be allowed to kick Sparano in the n&ts like everyone else is doing.

[Home]

Young in FAs
and Cam Newton in the draft

Whats wrong w that

QB is SUCH a weak link on the Dolphins we need to stop messing around with Hiney,Pigpen & LMAO Ronnie Brown

Those r your current QBs, pal

Tell Home
Which one of those failed waste products is going to take us to the Playoffs

Keep it Real
Young in FAs
Newton in the draft

Not Rocket science
Just Do It

[ALoco]

COWER THE CHINA HYENEA NOW VERY ANGRY HE MIGHT NOT GET MR ROSS 85 MILLON DOLLAR AND THE CASTEL FOR OPHRA WINFRY WHERE THEY WILL GET DRUNK ON RUM AND KISS IN THE BATH TUB ALL DAY.

MR SPOCK AND TABATHA FROM BEWICHED WENT IN THE HYENEA COWERS HEAD AND WARN MR ROSS OF THIS PLAN!

[bigtrav1]

This is great news! Jim Harbaugh has swagger and I think he can make the transition from college to NFL.

[Joe Schmoe]

Aloco, just as Sparano's downfall was his ST & offense. Yours continues to be your poor sentence structure, spelling & caps lock.

[Mark in Toronto]

Chris, a guy like Blackmon would be a nice pickup if the brass determines that the QBs on the board are not 1st round grades. I've also mentioned Julio Jones here before - same type of player. AJ Green too but will probably be gone.

[ALoco]

joe, that was the fake aloco ,i am starting now to write nice like that .

[Igor]

Armando,
I listen to your show and read your blog everyday. I have a couple of things to say. First and foremost, cut the feel bad for Sparano crap because its a business. The way Parcells and the whole gang treated JT, Matt Roth, and ZT, they all deserve what's happening to them. Why does anyone cry when a player gets treated like dirt and get cut?
Parcells wants to keep the whole crew, while he's never at the office and cashing $4 mil a year. The business is dirty, Parcells started it and now his boys are getting the treatment that they give to players. Plain simplle