|
Zopperoni
|
|
Easy come, easy go. Dan Marino resigns as senior VP.
quote:
MIAMI (Feb. 3, 2004) -- Dan Marino resigned as senior vice president of the Miami Dolphins only three weeks after accepting a job to return to the team he quarterbacked for 17 seasons.
"I have decided that it would not be in the best interests of either my family or the Dolphins to assume the role as the team's senior vice president of football operations," Marino said in a statement released by the team.
Marino played for the Dolphins from 1983-1999 and took them to the Super Bowl XIX, where they lost to San Francisco on Jan. 20, 1985. Among his numerous league records are 61,361 yards passing and 420 touchdown passes.
Marino and team owner Wayne Huizenga had often discussed the notion of the franchise favorite's return to the Dolphins, and the marquee move of an offseason front-office shakeup seemed to be Marino's hiring.
"I am disappointed in Dan's decision, especially since I think he would have made an outstanding football executive," Huizenga said. "But I understand his reasons, and I support his decision to reorder the priorities in his life."
A new position was created for Marino, who had planned to leave his analyst job with CBS Sports and HBO in order to come back to the Dolphins.
Huizenga said the Dolphins will begin searching for "a senior executive who has an extensive football background" to join Miami's management team and oversee football operations. It has not been determined if that person would have the same title Marino was given in his short stint as an executive.
The organizational reshuffling came after Huizenga stripped head coach Dave Wannstedt of having final say in personnel matters, a move prompted by back-to-back seasons without a playoff appearance by the Dolphins.
After a lengthy search for a general manager, during which at least seven candidates were interviewed, the team chose to promote Rick Spielman from senior vice president to GM. Spielman, though, would report to Marino, who was placed behind only Huizenga and team president Eddie Jones in the Dolphins' executive hierarchy.
At the Jan. 12 news conference announcing Marino's hiring, Huizenga seemed angered by a question about the perception Marino's hiring would be little more than a cosmetic move.
"Here's a guy who's on CBS and HBO and making four jillion dollars a year to work there," Huizenga said. "He's not going to quit a job like that to come here for somebody to say it's just a figurehead job. This is serious business here." |
http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/MIA/7059741
|
02-02-2004 22:22
.
|
|