Who had the better first year coaching debut Tony Sparano, Adam Gase or Brian Flores?
If you’re strictly looking at the numbers it’s obvious it was Tony Sperano who turned the Dolphins fortunes around in 2008 when he led the Dolphins to 11-5 season and into the playoffs for the first time in quite a few years.
Adam Gase in his first year as the Miami Dolphins coach led the team to a 10-6 record and into the playoffs for the first time since Tony spurano did it in 2008.
Brian Flores in his first season as a head coach of the Miami Dolphins is headed for at best a five win season but a greater probability of winning only four games in his first season as a head coach, as the Dolphins later on today will play their final game up in New England and the Patriots are already calling this a playoff game for them.
When you look at the numbers and add it all up It’s all about the wins baby.
So how can I argue that Brian Flores had the best first season of the three? Well read on and you will find out how my logic makes a whole lot of sense when I argue that Brian Flores had the best season of them all.
Who can argue that making the playoffs should be the primary objective (other than winning the division) of any team headed into the season.
When you factor in the last two decades of Miami’s win/loss record we all appreciate any time this team made it to the playoffs because the opportunities have been so far and few.
Is that the only objective, making it to the playoffs?
No, the main goal of any team should be to win the Super Bowl, but it’s obvious that you can’t win a Super Bowl if you don’t make it to the playoffs.
One of my favorite terms I like to use when something looks real but it’s not is “Fools Gold” that means basically that it looks like gold but it’s not.
That’s how you can describe the two seasons of Tony Sparano and Adam Gase when they both made it to the playoffs in their first year as Miami Dolphins head coaches.
So here’s how my argument that Brian Flores had the better start of the three because realistically turning a team around in one season does not produce long-term sustainability and in hindsight looking at both Tony Sparano’s and Adam Gase’s first years as head coaches of the Dolphins their teams digressed over the preceding years.
Once you make it to the playoffs you create expectations that may be unrealistic (Fools Gold) when it comes to building a sustainable team.
I was extremely encouraged by the turnaround the Dolphins made when Tony Sparano was hired as Miami’s head coach unfortunately things started to unravel after that first season and spiraled down to his departure four years later.
Adam Gase’s first season also created optimism and things were on their way up for our Dolphins but in similar fashion things unraveled for Adam Gase as he found himself out of a job 3 years later.
Ryan Flores on the other hand has created a different type of optimism that did not exist in both Tony Sparano’s and Adam Gase’s tenure. Is based off of a hope for the future rather than unrealistic expectations for the present. That’s truly more in line in what rebuilding should be.
There are no shortcuts to building a team, the Dolphins have made their fair share of mistakes over the last 20 years to put most of our fans on suicidal watch.
The past 20 years have been just as frustrating as this 2019 season that is mercifully coming to an end today.
There are two things you need to build a sustainable team and the Dolphins have both in place, first and foremost it starts with coaching and after his first season as Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has given a lot of us confidence that we have the right coach.
Another critical thing is to have a good coaching staff in place to help this coach out and I can argue that Brian Flores may have assembled a better staff than both Tony Sparano and Adam Gase.
We’ve seen evidence of player development creative play calling, a willingness to take risk and disciplined play. Brian Flores has created a winning environment and an identity that seemed lacking in both Adam Gase and Tony’s Sparano tenure.
With only four wins to his credit (I’m already counting today’s game as a loss) Brian Flores has created hope that should not exist after a four-win season. When you consider how he has coached this team throughout the season, a team lacking sufficient talent to compete against their opponents, the Miami Dolphins played above their head and accomplished four wins in a season where most people didn’t think they would win a single game.
Earlier in the season, they were considered the worst team in the NFL and possibly in NFL history.
At seasons end Brian Flores has both frustrated and encouraged us all with just four wins.
The frustration comes because many of us would have preferred they lost a couple more games for future building opportunities.
Brian Flores has turned around the narrative of the Dolphins being the worst team in history to being one of the most surprising teams of the 2019 season.
And it’s all due to coaching!
Even though I’m not ready to crown him as one of the greatest Dolphins coach of all time he’s off to a very good start.
The Dolphins hopes after 2019 is more about the future rather than the present and that’s the difference between Brian Flores tenure and those of Sparano’s and Gase’s.
It finally seems like we’re at the end of the tunnel and this team is headed for brighter days and to think that that’s just only four wins in a season there’s probably a greater hope for the future then we’ve seen in 20 years.
A lot of credit also goes towards current GM Chris Grier as together they have created not only hope but the opportunity for this team to make a huge turnaround in the fast approaching 2020 NFL season.
Hopefully we have found the “Real Gold”
Only time will tell!
The Dolphin Seer 