The Flip Side of the Fangio Story
As the saying goes, there's always two sides to every story, and now we're getting another side about what happened with Vic Fangio during his one year as Miami Dolphins head coach.
Upon his departure, followed by his quick hiring by the Philadelphia Eagles, we have heard public comments from wide receiver Tyreek Hill and agent Drew Rosenhaus about issues some players had with Fangio's way of doing things, accompanied by social media images from Jevon Holland and Cam Smith suggesting they were happy to see Fangio go.
Fangio hasn't spoken publicly since his departure, but his longtime friend, TV analyst and former Eagles and Dolphins quarterback Ron Jaworski spoke on his behalf during an appearance on Philadelphia radio station WIP.
JAWORSKI'S STRONG COMMENTS ABOUT FANGIO
Jaworski began his comments by pointing out he's known Fangio since the mid-1980s when he was quarterback for the Eagles and Fangio was a volunteer for the USFL Philadelphia Stars.
"You won't find a better man, a football lifer, a guy dedicated to his profession, a great designer, not an ego that impacts anyone else," said Jaworski, who played one season (1988) for the Dolphins.
When presented with Rosenhaus' comments that a few players had issues with Fangio and his coaching style, Jaworski offered a quick reply.
"Impacts me zero percent," he said.
"Coaches coach," Jaworski continued. "I have connections as well around this league and I hear another side of that story, that there were some players on that defense that didn't want to work. Didn't want to put the time in, didn't want to put the effort in, didn't want to make the commitment to be successful.
"Guys like to party at night and South Beach is really a great place to party. And Vic tried to get those guys and push those guys to become harder workers and better athletes, and more committed to their team. And he couldn't get through to those guys. Those were the guys that Vic was pushing and they're the guys that are whining right now."
TYREEK'S COMMENTS
Hill addressed Fangio's departure on social media, giving him props and saying he learned a lot from him, but also bringing in the issue of dealing with players.
Hill's last comment about Fangio needing to "learn how to fit in with his players" resembled what his agent, Rosenhaus earlier had said.
“There were quite a few players on the team that didn’t necessarily get along with Fangio," Rosenhaus said, per It wasn't a great relationship with many of the players. There were some guys that loved him, but there were quite a few that didn't. It definitely wasn't a unanimous positive relationship."
And then, of course, there was Holland posting a video of himself kicking rocks after the Fangio first came out and Smith with a simple "unlock" symbol, though in his case that might have been more of a personal statement than a direct shot at Fangio.
WHAT TO MAKE OF BOTH SIDES
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that Fangio, who's been around a long time, is old school and has old-school methods and that means not always playing nice with his players.
Those don't always work well in today's NFL, and that clearly was the case with some of his players in Miami.
This also was an issue with some players during Brian Flores' tenure as head coach based on reports that surfaced after he was fired following the 2019 season.
While Flores is much younger than Fangio, he also believed in a take-no-prisoner approach.
In head coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins found someone who is able to relate much better to his players.
But maybe there's something to be said for the tougher, no-nonsense approach when it comes to the bottom line.
While the quality of the opposition and injuries certainly are factors, what is indisputable is that the Dolphins were 10-5 in December/January regular season games during Flores' tenure and they're 4-8 under McDaniel.
Could it be that there's a mental toughness issue at play here as well that is keeping the Dolphins from succeeding at crunch time?
It's a question that's certainly worth asking.
