Jeff Ireland and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Tenure

Well-known Miami sports personality Dan Le Batard spoke about the Miami Dolphins' situation on his radio show yesterday. Dan believes that head coach Tony Sparano, with a dearth of talent in Miami, is no different than Jim Caldwell, who is struggling to win in Indianapolis. The loss of Peyton Manning, he said, means more to the team than anything Caldwell could do. The addition of Andrew Luck could mean as much for Sparano's win/loss as having Manning does for the coach in Indy.

Le Batard also felt, that the addition of Bill Cowher, rumored to be receiving attention from Stephen Ross & Co. lately, would do nothing without a good QB.

His main point of contention was that personnel has a much greater impact than coaching on team success. I think Dan would agree with the assessment that the GM, the employer and architect of personnel, is more important to the success, or lack thereof, of an NFL team than the coach.

In looking past Sparano, to that GM, you see the root of the Phins' problems. The root's name is Jeff Ireland.

In the coming weeks the media, if they address him at all, will talk about how Ireland hasn't been sociable. How he has hid behind the scenes pushing buttons like the tiny man once believed to be the Wizard of Oz.

They'll wax poetic about how Ireland has let Sparano and Steven Ross take the blame. 

That's neither here nor there in The Coach's opinion. How often do you see Green Bay's Ted Thompson, Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, or Pittsburgh's Kevin Colbert step to the podium for post game press conferences? You don't. Those successful GMs are no more sociable or media accessible on a major scale than any other. 

The real problem with Ireland's tenure in South Florida has nothing to do with media savvy or relationships with players, coaches or ownership. It's solely a matter of a bad job done filling the roster. The Dolphins fridge is full of bad groceries.

Instead of harping on bad free agent acquisitions (Reggie Bush, the Cowboy Castaways, etc.) and questionable trades (Brandon Marshall (which Monstar took his talent again?) or Jason Taylor to the Redskins), the best place to see Ireland's ineptitude is by looking at the NFL College Draft. Between 2008 and 2011, JI has had four cracks at making the Phins a contender, or at least markedly better. 

For your viewing pleasure, after the page break is each pick Mr. Ireland banked his employment on, how they've fared, and some notable young men who were available at the time. Let's start in 2008:

*Actual picks in orange

*Players passed over in blue