Dave Hyde: Dolphins' Steve Ross should call 1-800-Harbaugh

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jan 6, 2026

Published in Football

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Do it, Steve Ross.

Pick up the phone and call John Harbaugh.

He’d bring everything the Miami Dolphins need again this offseason from leadership to team-building vision to public credibility. Harbaugh has come free at the right time, too. He was fired by the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night just as the Dolphins are starting their general manager interviews.

Call an audible.

Call Harbaugh.

The line already is forming for him. Harbaugh’s agent, Bryan Harlan, said in the first 45 minutes of Harbaugh being fired that seven teams expressed interest in him, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

So, the Dolphins’ Gang of Six interviewing general managers — Ross, Daniel Sillman, Tom Garfinkel, Brandon Shore, Dan Marino and Troy Aikman — need to make a quick detour. They need to get Harlan on the line, if they haven’t already.

If it’s about the optics of having Mike McDaniel as coach, that’s never bothered Ross. Remember? You went after Harbaugh’s brother, Jim, at the start of your Dolphins ownership even as Tony Sparano was your coach.

You got a lot of grief for that. You also told people close to you, “No one said I didn’t go after the right guy.”

Harbaugh II is a similar idea. He’s won a Super Bowl. He’s been named Coach of the Year. His team missed the playoffs this season for the third time in 18 years, and this season was considered one of his better coaching performances considering all his team’s injuries.

The question really isn’t why the Dolphins should want Harbaugh. It’s why Harbaugh would want them. They have no quarterback, sit in salary-cap hell, have a substandard roster and an owner who hasn’t made a winning football hire in 17 years.

Here’s that hire.

Here’s what Ross can offer him, too: The chance to build out the organization in the manner he wants.

Harbaugh hasn’t done that type of work before. He didn’t need to in Baltimore. Surely he’s had ideas on how to structure an organization or people he would put in place. This would be his chance to put all those ideas in place.

No more Gang of Six trying to figure who the best GM is for this team. No more trying to sell McDaniel’s four years as some hallmark of winning football.

No more entering next season with little flash or stars, too. The coach would be the star — at least if you can climb over everyone to get him.

There’s the only concern. This has the chance to be another public-relations nightmare if not deftly handled. It’s not just Harbaugh I. It also was the manner the chase for Sean Payton twisted out of control before McDaniel was hired.

Ross, you see, sometimes has the right guy in mind. He just hasn’t closed the deal. This would be a chance to close the deal in a manner that would solve some of this franchise’s pressing questions staring with whether there’s good management in place.

History even has a karmic card to play here. The Dolphins once hired a troubled Baltimore coach who didn’t win enough for its team owner. Don Shula worked out pretty good for the Dolphins.

Would Harbaugh guarantee a winner like that? Of course not. Bill Parcells didn’t win here. Nick Saban didn’t win. Jimmy Johnson didn’t win like he did in Dallas, but people would throw a parade for his two playoff wins and rebuilt roster in four years.

The Dolphins are in as bad a shape as they’ve ever been heading into an offseason considering they have $54 million against the salary cap for a quarterback who won’t be back. The way out of that is selling a quarterback on a rookie contract like Quinn Ewers and hoping the new GM can find players.

How to build an organization to win? That’s what has eluded Ross since he’s been here. Now comes a football lifer who can deliver a winning career’s worth of knowledge.

There have been other coaches like Harbaugh that have been available in recent years. Payton ditched the Dolphins and rebuilt a troubled Denver franchise. They’re the No. 1 seed in the AFC now. Mike Vrabel went to New England this season. A four-win team in 2024 won 14 games in 2025.

Pick up the phone, Steve Ross.

Call 1-800-Harbaugh.