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Dan Marino, the most prolific quarterback in NFL history, never won a Super Bowl as a player with the Miami Dolphins. Now he will try as their head of football operations.
The Dolphins on Monday named Marino to the newly-created position of senior vice president of football operations and promoted Rick Spielman to general manager.
"Maybe this is the way I can get that opportunity to win a Super Bowl ring," Marino said at an afternoon news conference at the team's training facility.
Under this structure, Marino has final say on football decisions. Both Spielman
and coach Dave Wannstedt will report to Marino. Tickets
"I'm delighted that Dan has agreed to re-join the team in this capacity," said Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga. "There is no one who is more respected in this community than Dan, and he will play an important role in the future direction of the Dolphins. He will bring to his new responsibilities the same type of leadership, competitiveness and vision that he had as a player and those qualities will make him as successful in the front office as he was on the field."
"I'm happy that Wayne (Huizenga) stayed within the Dolphin family in improving the organization," said former Dolphins coach Don Shula. "I believe that Dan will do a great job as Senior Vice President of Football Operations. He has proven that he is a true leader."
After two straight playoff-less seasons, Huizenga announced on December 29 that he was looking to restructure the front office. But the hiring of the popular but inexperienced Marino was surprising after Huizenga spent most of the last 10 days interviewing numerous candidates for the position.
"After playing 17 years here, I'm probably the biggest Dolphin fan ever," Marino said. "I thought this was the logical next step for me to work as an executive in the Miami Dolphins organization and I'm looking forward to working with Rick and Dave."
Former Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints general manager Randy Mueller, Seahawks vice president of operations Ted Thompson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers director of personnel Tim Ruskell and Baltimore Ravens director of player personnel Phil Savage were among the seven candidates who interviewed for the general manager position over the last 10 days.
"I was tremendously impressed with the individuals we interviewed, and any one of them would have been an outstanding choice," Huizenga said. "However, after going through the selection process, we felt Rick was the best choice. I know that Rick, Dan and Dave will work well together."
Marino retired after the 1999 season and works as a studio analyst for "The NFL Today" on CBS and "Inside the NFL" on HBO.
Marino is the NFL's all-time leader with 61,361 passing yards, 420 touchdowns and 4,967 completions in 17 years with the Dolphins.
The Dolphins retired Marino's No. 13 - the second jersey to be retired by the team - on September 17, 2000. He is a lock to be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005 - his first year of eligibility.
Bryan Wiedmeier has managed Miami's salary cap and will remain in his capacity as executive vice president and chief operating officer.