So Long Joe.

If the Miami Dolphins were USC they would have fired head coach Joe Philbin while they were still in London. And left him there. Instead Dolphins owner Stephen Ross let his coach since 2012 go yesterday morning. Maybe it's something that interests only me but Philbin's final game as head coach was a sad showing against a New York Jets team coached by Todd Bowles. Bowles was the Dolphins interim head coach for the final three games of the 2011 season. He was also a finalist for the top job that went to Philbin.

I really don't like it when head coaches are fired during the season. I especially don't like head coach firings so early in the season. That's probably due to my boundless optimism. It's never too late to turn around a season. Still it's difficult to fault this decision. It just feels early. Philbin has been remarkably mediocre in his 3+ seasons leading the Dolphins. 7-9. 8-8, and 8-8. There was also that little bullying scandal involving Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin that took place on his watch. Those nuggets made the contract extension handed to Philbin this past offseason so surprising. Maybe the team opened up the vault wide for Ndamuknog Suh's ridiculous contract and just left it open. Ross was in a spending mood. There was a lot of optimism in Miami for this season. A 1-3 start thrashed that optimism and got the head coach fired. 

Moving forward, the Dolphins promoted tight ends Dan Campbell to interim head coach. He was originally hired by former head coach Tony Sparano as coaching intern in 2010. Campbell has been coaching the tight ends for the last five years. So he's familiar with the Dolphins players. The 39-year old new head coach played tight end in the league for 11 years with the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, and New Orleans Saints. He was on injured reserve with the Saints when they won the Super Bowl following the 2009 NFL Season. He then ventured into the coaching profession. And now he's the interim head coach for a fairly talented, maybe lightly motivated, football team. Maybe he can make a name for himself. It's not unheard of for an interim coach to be offered the full-time gig. Mike Tice and Leslie Frazier were hired as head coaches of the Minnesota Vikings after stints as the interim coach. The guess here is that Campbell will be considered but that the Dolphins will be looking for a more established offensive-minded coach like Kyle Shanahan. Maybe Josh McDaniels. That would remove the offensive coordinator from the division-foe New England Patriots. A win-win. But, that decision is at least three months away. For now, Joe Philbin is outside of the coaching world and Dan Campbell is tasked with breathing some life into the Miami Dolphins.