MIAMI — Steve Ross usually has a cheesy grin on his face.

It’s the kind of smile most of us would have adorned on our mug if Forbes estimated our net worth to be $17 billion.

Problem is, money can’t buy happiness (wish I knew this as a fact), and it certainly doesn’t lead to NFL success.

I saw that grin from the Miami Dolphins’ owner for 16 of 17 years, right until this season — when I haven’t seen that grin once in person.

It was missing when Ross came to the facility to watch his first training camp practice of the season. That day he actually left the field and headed to his chauffeur-driven car with a scowl on his face, as if he stepped in some organic fertilizer, provided by the sod company he bought a couple of years ago because he didn’t like where the Dolphins stood in the company’s pecking order of priority franchises.

And what was odd was the fact that the day’s practice wasn’t bad.

The cheesy grin wasn’t there when Ross was spotted at Hard Rock Stadium on the field before and after games this year. And there were games he skipped the trip to the field altogether.

There was no cheesy grin in the instances we witnessed Ross leave the locker room on the road. In fact, Ross typically hides from no one, usually strolling through the locker room to make his exit. When you sign everyone’s checks you do that.

But this year Ross became a ghost, vanishing into thin air after games.

Even though Ross has seemingly quadrupled the investment he has made into the Dolphins franchise and facilities, owning the Dolphins was never about money to this real estate mogul, who splits his time between New York and Palm Beach.

Owning an NFL team was a passion project, Ross’ opportunity to join the world’s most elite country club (sports ownership), playing a billionaire’s version of high-stakes fantasy football.

The problem is, Ross keeps letting his decisions get in the way of Miami reaching his desired destination, which is to become a “best in class” franchise, on and off the football field.

Those problems often stem from Ross doing the same things over and over, and those poor decisions lead to the same mistakes being made over and over.

For once during his 17-year tenure as the majority owner Ross did the wise thing, which was to change the general manager and head coach at the same time, dismissing Chris Grier on Halloween and firing Mike McDaniel on Thursday after concluding the franchise’s first round of general manager interviews.

Whether McDaniel’s not-so-surprising removal after four seasons was part of some master plan to land recently unemployed head coach John Harbaugh, who was fired by the Baltimore Ravens earlier this week, or another highly coveted head coach who might become available in a week or two, we shouldn’t care at this point.

What matters is that Ross has cleaned the land and is laying a new foundation for this franchise. The Dolphins are seemingly starting fresh. Doing it in unison is new territory, and Ross should be proud that he made the bold and scary decision.

Ross needs to continue to make bold and unique decisions, straying from his norms.

Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores and McDaniel, the four head coaches he has hired, were all first-timers in that role.

Dennis Hickey was a first-timer in the general manager position, and so was Grier when he was elevated from director of scouting to become the Dolphins’ general manager in 2016.

The only exception to Ross’ affinity to hiring first-timers, whom he believes have a superior work ethic than rereads and are more indebted to him, is Mike Tannebaum, who ran the New York Jets for seven seasons before going from consultant to vice president of football operations for the Dolphins in 2015.

This time around Ross seemingly didn’t force a new general manager to inherit McDaniel as his coach. He let all the general manager candidates speak without bias, and paint their picture of how they would rebuild Miami’s NFL franchise.

Miami supposedly didn’t contact John Harbaugh, or his people directly as of Thursday, before removing McDaniel. That doesn’t mean back channel, hypothetical conversations didn’t happen because that’s how the NFL, if not all of professional sports, works.

Ross didn’t repeat the same mistake he made in 2011 courting Jim Harbaugh, the younger brother of John Harbaugh, while his team still had a head coach (Tony Sparano).

Hopefully Ross closes a deal, landing a whale such as John Harbaugh, better than he has in the last few attempts to employ people in positions of power.

What should “comprehensive change,” the term Ross used in his statement announcing McDaniel’s release, look like?

Someone who can change the culture of this floundering franchise, turning up the volume on its toughness, execution and discipline. A coach who can hire a quality coaching staff, one without many blind spots. And sharp evaluators who can build the foundation of the team through the draft, and not through free agency.

Whether that’s John Harbaugh or not, the Dolphins need to do things differently, change up the routine, and shed bad habits.

Maybe once they do the cheesy grin will return to Ross’ face.

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