The Dave Wannestant Appreciation Thread

[Dolphin Dan]

while i don't have a man crush on wanny, i do think he gets a bad rap here. Yeah passing on Brees and Boldin were mistakes, but Dave won our last Division title, brought in Ricky, and had 2 winnign seasons that we did not get into the playoffs with. The thing that screwed him was Ricky smoking pot and deciding to retire right before the season. He was a beter coach IMO than any of the guys that have come after him save Sparano.

[BlueFin]

Originally Posted by THE STACHE

Fielder was the best Qb we had since Marino. So I would not be knocking Jay all to much. Look at his winning record from 2000-2004 and 3 playoff appearances.

Feidler stunk, he rode a top defense and a running game. We made the playoffs the previous 3 years without Fiedler.

Wannstedt systimatically destroyed this football team just as he did the Chicago Bears.

He is clueless and will surely never be given the reigns of a NFL team again.

Its amazing to me PITT hasn't figured out yet what a loser they hired.

Favorite Wannstedt moment?, the news that he was gone from this team forever.

[FinfanInBuffalo]

Most fans cannot separate Wannstedt the coach from Wannstedt the GM. As a GM he was awful. Every complaint about Wannstedt is about GM duties. As a coach he was pretty good.

To all of you "just road the defense" guys, please explain 2006 with the "great" Nick Saban. GREAT DEFENSE equaled 6 wins. In 2000? great defense equaled 11 wins. How about 2001? Great defense? Sure. Great running game? Lamar Smith averaged 3.1 YPC. We rushed for 1500 yards as a team. The result? 11 wins.

For all the ripping Wannstedt takes about the offense, you might want to check the last time we scored more than 320 points in a season. You also might want to check the last time we scored 300 or more points for many consecutive years.

Wannstedt should never have been given GM duties. Blame JJ and Wayne for that. The fact is that Wannstedt has been the best coach since Shula and the worst GM ever. That's how you average more than 10 wins per year while crippling the talent base of your team.

[Phins28]

It's this a joke? I am dreaming?

[andyahs]

Originally Posted by Phins28

It's this a joke? I am dreaming?

Yes and Yes..............

[13Dolfan87]

Ugh. Wannstedt was AWFUL. Totally ruined this organization and the downward spiral began with him. There should be no appreciation for this loser, at all.

[Champ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Wannstedt

It's "Dave Wannstedt"......not "Dave Wannstant"....

[DeeperImage]

I just woke up and started laughing really hard thanks to this thread. You just made my day.

[FinFaninMS]

I think Wanny is definitely underrated as a coach, just as Johnson is definitely overrated as a coach. However, the difference is that Johnson as a GM was able to put together one of the most dominant football teams ever, while Wanny's personnel moves resulted in the team bottoming out. And it's still not recovered, going into the fifth season after Wanny was removed.

In hindsight, though, he should have been fired after 2002. That collapse at the end-- given the Pro Bowl years so many on the team had, and Ricky Williams' running game (the likes of which hadn't been seen in Miami since the 70s)-- was simply inexcusable. Sure, the games were on the road, but neither the Vikings or Patriots were world-beaters that year, and the Dolphins has just convincingly defeated the eventual AFC champs. And even though the defense as a whole (another overrated bunch) was very much to blame for the losses, and the QB position wasn't what it should have been-- another losing Wanny move-- Wanny as the head coach should have been held accountable.

Would we have made the Super Bowl in 2003 without Wanny? Doubt it, but we may have one enough to make the playoffs. Or at worst, Ricky never goes AWOL and that particular move doesn't turn into a disaster, and most likely all of those other horrible Wanny/Spielman moves don't get made-- including the bonehead move of picking Eddie Moore in the 2003 draft.

[JDOE]

I figured Wannstedt drove all his fans away by now.

You know, I tried to like the guy, but he was just so inept. He was not good at game management, his play calling was vanilla at best and predictable and ineffective at worst. He was talent blind, and overpaid and over reached for everybody.

I'm surprised he found a head coaching job even in the college ranks after he was done here. The best thing I can say about the guy is our coaching has gone downhill since, which is an amazing feat in itself.

I was initially all over the Saban bandwagon until I realized he was an arrogant know-it-all that didn't know it all, except how to talk about responsibility and then leave the team for more money after removing what talent Wannstedt had managed to acquire.

I never fell for Cameron. I saw that a complete disaster from the beginning and was hoping beyond hope he would be canned after the season was over. He was like a downs syndrome version of Whanny.

I am on the Sparano bandwagon. His coaching style is more my favorite. No nonsense, in your face, and still respectful of his players and gets the job done. That should translate well come game time. As long as he can manage a game effectively, He could end up being one of the best moves we've made in a long while.

[THE STACHE]

Thanks I think I will do a swan dive now off of Dolphins Stadium

[SpaceMountain16]

Originally Posted by Dolfan1000

The day he resigned. Best. Day. Ever.

Oh, and when we drafted Eddie Moore over Anquan Boldin, despite Spielman's intent to take the wideout, for his "special teams ability".

Or that way he would stroke his hair when things went bad.

Or the way he would say, "mmmkay?" at the end of every sentence.

Or, well, you get the idea.

Completely agreed,

I woke up in the morning to hear the news and i literally cheered.

[Etuoo33]

This may be the worst thread of all time on this site.
#1 Deconstructing the Fins
#1a Jammar Fletcher
#1b Eddie Moore
#1c Trading for Rickey
#1d me responding to this stupidity

[twohype]

My favorite Dave Wannestant moment -was "WHEN HE QUIT"-

[twohype]

Originally Posted by 13Dolfan87

Ugh. Wannstedt was AWFUL. Totally ruined this organization and the downward spiral began with him. There should be no appreciation for this loser, at all.

Yep - Wanny was just AWFUL -