Mike Tice doesn't even know if he can even hire new coaches to replace those that he has lost recently.

The front office at Winter Park doesn't know if they will be allowed to add to the Vikings payroll through free agency, let alone sign a #1 draft pick.

But down in Miami, things are just dandy. Let's take a look to see how the other half is living.

Dolphins new head coach Nick Saban has already figured out an important exception to the salary cap.

It doesn't apply to coaches.

As a result, Saban is rounding up an all-star assortment of assistants, throwing salaries of $800,000 a year or more onto the table in an effort to buy their services. (Oh, and Saban's salary is expected to average between $4 million and $5 million a season compared to Tice's $750,000 for the coming season.)

Former Vikings offensive coordinator Scott Linehan went from a salary of $300,000 per year to $850,000 in making the leap from Minny to Miami. Vikings receivers coach Charlie Baggett (who for some reason was making $100,000 a year more than the team's offensive coordinator) saw his own salary double from $400,000 to $800,000 when he accepted the same position in Miami.

Most recently, the Fins added offensive line guru Hudson Houck, paying him $850,000 per year.

''There's a salary cap on players, but there's no salary cap on coaches,'' Saban said, according to the Miami Herald. "You have to understand that getting the best quality people to develop your players is a very good value. It's certainly something I believe in and it's something we believe in organizationally."

Meanwhile Tice can be found scouring the highschool football wite looking for a few new coaches who might actually receive a nominal bump in salary should they be hired by the team.

Oh, and the 'Fins wanna pony up just about their whole team to reunite Randy Moss with Linehan. This one is very interesting. Why? the 'Fins have the #2 overall pick this year. Hmmmmm.

Link of the Day

The Greet Machine has initiated a campaign launch for Tom Ridge to become governor of Minnesota. While governor of Pennsylvania, Ridge figured out how to build 4 new stadiums for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles, and Pitt Panthers. In other words, Tom Ridge is a diplomatic and financial genius.

Now that Tom has resigned as directory of the Department of Homeland Security, Minnesota desperately needs his leadership. To that effect I created an online petition for the purpose of drumming up support for Tom Ridge's candidacy:

Tom Ridge for Governor of Minnesota Campaign Petition

Please sign it if you are interested in seeing stadiums finally built in Minnesota!

Quote of the Day

From the Washington Post's Tony Kornheiser, regarding the NFL's inexplicable decision to allow the City-Town of Jacksonville to host a Super Bowl:

"The NFL must see itself as handing out some sort of charity when it awards the Super Bowl to any place other than New Orleans, Miami and Southern California. Because, believe me, nobody wants the game to be anywhere but there. So when the NFL insists on putting it in outposts like Detroit, Houston or Minneapolis, people ask, 'Are you guys nuts?' But when you pick Jacksonville, people are agape and say, 'Who in Jacksonville has a photo of Tagliabue with a goat?'"

Posted by maasx003 at January 26, 2005 10:41 AM | TrackBack