After 3 weeks, Marino resigns from Miami job

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 4, 2004 | by Tim Reynolds Associated Press

MIAMI -- Dan Marino resigned as senior vice president of the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday, only three weeks after accepting a job that brought him back to the team he quarterbacked for 17 seasons.

"I have decided that it would not be in the best interests of either my family or the Dolphins to assume the role as the team's senior vice president of football operations," Marino said in a statement released by the team.

Marino played for the Dolphins from 1983-99 and took them to the 1985 Super Bowl, which they lost to San Francisco. He holds NFL records with 61,361 yards passing and 420 touchdown passes.

Marino and team owner Wayne Huizenga had often discussed the notion of the franchise favorite's return to the Dolphins, and the marquee move of an offseason front-office shake-up seemed to be Marino's hiring.

"I am disappointed in Dan's decision, especially since I think he would have made an outstanding football executive," Huizenga said. "But I understand his reasons, and I support his decision to reorder the priorities in his life."

The Dolphins created a new position for Marino, who had planned to leave his analyst jobs at CBS Sports and HBO to come back to the Dolphins. Marino is scheduled to tape a Super Bowl wrap-up show for HBO's "Inside the NFL" in New York on Wednesday. The show was to be his last as a network commentator before joining the Dolphins.

Huizenga said the Dolphins will begin searching for "a senior executive who has an extensive football background" to join Miami's management team and oversee football operations. It has not been determined if that person would have the same title Marino was given in his short stint as an executive.