The Dolphins couldn’t reel in the big-name coach.
Stephen Ross tried his best to land Jeff Fisher, but the long-time Titans coach chose the Rams’ head coaching job on Friday instead of the Dolphins’.
He flew Fisher to and from his Dolphins interview in his private helicopter, unleashed confident Carl Peterson on him for a personal four-hour tour and reportedly refused to be out-bid for Fisher’s services.
But Fisher, 53, chose the Rams anyway, after taking five full days to deliberate.
In St. Louis he will work for Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, who is the son of his long-time agent. He has a former No. 1 overall pick in quarterback Sam Bradford, the No. 2 pick in this April’s draft, and the opportunity to hand-pick his general manager as the Rams have yet to hire one.
Miami offered him money and potentially a chance to win sooner, but otherwise couldn’t match the Rams’ offer. According to multiple reports, Fisher and the Dolphins couldn’t agree on an organizational structure — i.e., Fisher wanted ultimate authority over roster decisions, but the Dolphins want general manager Jeff Ireland to still call the shots.
Ross had hoped to land one of the league’s premier coaches when he fired Tony Sparano on Dec. 12, but now it appears he will have to settle for lesser candidates after being turned down by Fisher and Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden opting to remain in their TV jobs for another season.
The Dolphins have already interviewed four other candidates other than Fisher, but none have any head coaching experience — Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, Bears special teams coach Dave Toub and Dolphins interim coach Todd Bowles. The Dolphins also had an interview set up with Mike Mularkey before he took the Jaguars head coaching job.
It is unclear who the Dolphins will target next, although they will likely bring some of the aforementioned candidates back for a second interview. Around the league, most of the candidates interviewing for jobs have been coordinators. Some of the top ones who have not interviewed with the Dolphins include Carolina offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, Green Bay assistant head coach Winston Moss (who is believed to be the favorite for the Raiders job), Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.
A handful of experienced coaches also remain available, including Marty Schottenheimer, who interviewed for the Tampa Bay job on Tuesday and worked for Peterson for 10 years in Kansas City. Former Green Bay coach Mike Sherman also interviewed in Tampa this week, and former Ravens coach Brian Billick is available, though the only interest he has received so far is an interview with the Falcons for their offensive coordinator job.
