Miami Dolphins

Dolphins great Larry Csonka campaigns for Miami to hire Tom Coughlin

Published Jan. 7, 2016 9:19 a.m. ET

Cameron DaSilva

The Miami Dolphins have interviewed a handful of candidates to become their next head coach, with Mike Shanahan headlining the group. It may take some time for them to find the perfect guy for the job, but former Dolphins legend Larry Csonka knows who Miami should hire: Tom Coughlin.

Csonka is campaigning for the Dolphins to bring in the former New York Giants head coach, and he doesn't care that Coughlin is 70 years old. The two played together at Syracuse in the past, so the connection between Csonka and Coughlin is obvious, it's just a matter of whether the Dolphins can, or will, make it happen.

Here's part of what he said on his website, LarryCsonka.com:

I’m sure some eager offensive or defensive coordinator will jump at the chance to become a head coach in Miami. But the time it takes to put together a winning combination would take too long and could be problematic with so many people involved.

On the other hand, an EXPERIENCED head coach, such as Coughlin, who has done it before and is current with personnel and what’s happening in the League, could and would make it happen much sooner!

The one problem Csonka realizes is the fact that Coughlin would likely want control of personnel and Football Operations -- similar to what Chip Kelly had in Philadelphia and Bill Belichick in New England.

Coughlin obviously has the pedigree and experience to handle the extra responsibilities, but Miami likely won't give that up despite having a first-year general manager in Chris Grier.

Coughlin, like Shula, Belichick and other experienced, successful head coaches, would not consider coming to an NFL team without having complete control of Football Operations. That is to say, having life and death control over their respective players. Without that, there is little or no discipline. Teams like Miami, Cleveland and several others are not, it seems, willing to grant their head coaches that power. And without it, the head coach does not get the respect he needs or deserves, in most cases.

The Dolphins have yet to express interest in Coughlin and the coaching vacancies are growing each day, so there's plenty of competition out there. Six other teams are looking for head coaches and Miami isn't the most attractive of the bunch.