‘Patience’ With Chris Grier Through The ‘Process’

M.J.

5 years ago

“A Good Process Produces Good Results”: Nick Saban

Chris Grier only deserves fair evaluation

I read the other day in a blog I follow that Chris Grier ‘deserves’ patience.

Let me make this clear in no uncertain terms: Everything is earned in football.

Dan Marino, Don Shula, Bryan Cox, Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Cameron Wake… they deserved patience because they earned it through their production. But many of these great Dolphins didn’t receive their fair share of ‘patience’.

What Chris Grier deserves, and the only thing he’s earned is
fair evaluation through his process…

The ‘Process’ in broad terms:

Offseason and preseason:

Evaluation of the team followed by an implementation of the vision through additions of talent and staff which is refined by the consolidation of what’s effective and expulsion of the ineffective.

Regular Season and Post Season:

Testing the theory in practical situations with the goal of exceeding the prior season’s production.

In KISS format: Keep the arrow pointing up, year by year, with a team that’s shipshape.

Mistakes can destroy even good coaches during the process

A ‘good process’ must produce good results. This is why Nick Saban ran from the Dolphins. Saban has an explicit understanding of the process… but his legendary blunder from the medical side of the process doomed his regime. Production is the fruits of the philosophical side of the process… and in this case, a single choice crushed the regime.

Yet, you can bet with the pay per head bookie services like AcePerHead.com that there was a synergy in this failure from the practical and theoretical sides of his process.

Saban would have been best served to stick to the philosophy of a good process by only taking the Quarterback he believed in. Instead, in desperation to win and feed his ego, Saban went with Culpepper. Ego and emotion always undermine the process. The correct move, according to the philosophy of a good process, was to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to present itself.

Football always is and will be based on production.

So Saban’s failings sprung from failures on the philosophical side of the process. These process failings became visible to fans through poor production.

Saban tried to cheat the process in his need to win immediately at all costs… and lost. The moral of the ‘Drew Brees Free Agency & Miami Dolphins’ story is: Production reveals and determines if a process is good or not.

What is a fans ‘patience through the process’?

Without a doubt, Phins Fans should be prepared to offer a 2019 (and maybe 2020) mulligan to Chris Grier for the team’s win total because we won’t have a seasoned and quality Quarterback and the team will be in transition.

Still, Grier’s hire for Head Coach, Free Agent decisions, and draft picks should be graded with little to no curve. Grier has been with the Dolphins for twenty years and has been General Manager for two.

Grier has had plenty of time to cut your teeth at his job, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t hit the ground running.

Year 1 and 2 of Grier’s reign may have low win totals, but, despite losing seasons, the team could still be on the right track. As an example, in Pete Carroll’s 1st two seasons he went 7-9. Yet the process was screaming ‘things are heading in the right direction’. You could see success coming in the production of the draft pick from Seahawks GM John Schneider. Those were two stellar drafts classes. Of course the brilliant find of Russell Wilson was the cap stone.

For those interested (and nutty), I use the Gestalt method of learning for all my evaluations.

What’s the time frame when evaluation should bring hope or fear?

While Free Agents assessment comes in a single season, draft picks and Head Coaches normally takes around two seasons for a fair evaluation. By the end of Year 2, we’ll have a good gist of what Grier is a GM. Although, if things go terrible or amazing, we could have our tell-tale signs by the end of Year 1.

Fans shouldn’t expect Grier to hit on every move… no one does that.

This draft needs to bring in more contributing players than not with their top 5 picks…. and big contracts on old players must go the way of the Dodo. This team is thin and full of holes and there will be many ts, so Grier should have little trouble adding talent these next two drafts…that is, if he’s even adequately competent. As the years go by, some classes will be better than other, but this season must have a practical grade of at the very least a B.

Like Chris Grier, we Dolphins fans should hold to a good process in his initial evaluation. A team builder’s acumen is revealed after 2-3 seasons… though some owners hold out hope longer than that. But the reality of production can alter the time frame of his first evaluation dramatically…

…So here’s to an excellent 2019 Draft adding rocket juice to the belief that we’re on the right track. Go Phins!!!

P.S. Despite disliking the man, this is an excellent video.