Can We Talk About This For A Second?

Okay, so Cam Cameron is the new Miami Dolphins head coach. I know there’s a lot going on and it’s Super Bowl week and Barbaro just died and Peyton Manning won a crucial game against Tom Brady... So I’ll give you a moment to regroup and I’ll repeat what I just told you so you can let it roll around in your brain a little bit.

Cam Cameron is the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

Those of us familiar with Purdue football remember Cam as not only the guy with one of the dumbest names ever, but also as the inept Indiana University football coach who was often powerless to stop Purdue – and basically anyone else – from running over the Hoosiers.

That as his one head coaching job and it was at a pathetic Division I program. How pathetic? Well, according to Wikipedia (and they’re never wrong), CamCam went 18-37 in his time there from 1997-2001. So he averaged under four wins a season and was almost twenty games under .500 over the course of five seasons. Repeatedly going 3-8 and 4-7 (and averaging 2-6 in the conference) gets you fired from college football but apparently gets you a chance to coach in the NFL.

Why isn’t anyone making a bigger deal of this? Maybe because Lee Corso thinks Cam’s IU record shouldn’t be taken into consideration insofar as judging his coaching abilities (and we all know Coach Corso is never wrong, either):

"Since I was fired there [in 1982], Sam Wyche is the only coach who left there without being fired," said Corso, who coached at Indiana from 1973-82. "Does that say enough about how tough it is to win there?"

Um, actually, no, Coach. It says that IU is a lousy football program that continually hires lousy coachs, which only serves to further the cycle of lousy football. See how that works? When you have to point at Sam Wyche as your success story, things are pretty bleak.

Also, if you’re trying to make a case for a guy as a legitimate NFL coach, not only is asking everyone to ignore a terrible five-year coaching stint kind of stupid, it gets exponentially more stupid when it’s the only coaching stop the guy in question has ever made!

However, Bears DE Adewale Ogunleye played under Cam (who was an assistant) on the Dolphins and he likes Cam, too:

There were just basic rules," Ogunleye said, "but you had to respond to them. He was the kind of coach that dots his I's and crosses his T's.'' Ogunleye also said that Cameron has a good sense of humor, but "when it comes to offense, he's very serious. One thing you appreciate is he's very approachable. He doesn't dwell on hypotheticals. He believes in cold, hard facts."

Yes, just basic rules. For instance, you had to be present on game day. Hmm, maybe the rules should have been a little less “basic.” But, hey, Coach Cameron doesn’t dwell on hypotheticals – he believes in cold, hard facts. Such as having a head coaching record of 18-37.

But Cam’s creative and is known for it, according to the Corso story:

Cameron became known for his creativity and ability maximize a player's potential. He moved quarterback Antwaan Randle El to wide receiver and running back.

Fantastic. So does this mean we should expect to see Cleo Lemon at wideout and Daunte Culpepper in the backfield this season?

I just don’t understand how there isn’t more logic out there in both the management of professional teams and in the media in general. People excoriated Nick Saban for leaving the Dolphins to go back to college for an absolute boatload of money and likely better job security. Keep in mind that he’d done a lousy, sub-.500 job with the Dolphins…yet people still hate him for it. Then the Dolphins go and among all the quality candidates out there, they hire…Cam freakin’ Cameron??

I just don’t understand it and I predict the Dolphins will be looking for another coach in less than three years.