DAVIE, Fla. -- The Miami Dolphins announced the return of a legend Monday during an afternoon press conference. Former quarterback Dan Marino will rejoin the franchise as senior vice president of football operations.

"My love for this organization, my love for football, I think that's unquestioned," Marino said. "There are some people in this organization that have won Super Bowl rings. Let me tell you, I've thought about that a lot. Maybe this is the way I can get that opportunity."

Meanwhile, the club promoted Rick Spielman to general manager.

Under this new structure, Marino will report directly to team President Eddie Jones. Marino will be responsible for the club's football operations and both Spielman and head coach Dave Wannstedt will report to him. Spielman will have the primary responsibility for all player personnel decisions, including the areas of free agency, the college draft and the composition of the team's roster.

"I'm delighted that Dan has agreed to rejoin the team in this capacity," said team owner H. Wayne Huizenga. "There is no one who is more respected in this community than Dan, and he will play an important role in the future direction of the Dolphins. He will bring to his new responsibilities the same type of leadership, competitiveness, and vision that he had as a player and those qualities will make him as successful in the front office as he was on the field.

"I'm also pleased to be able to promote Rick to general manager. I was tremendously impressed with the individuals we interviewed, and any one of them would have been an outstanding choice for that position. However, after going through the selection process with an open mind, we felt Rick was the best choice. I know that Rick, Dan and Dave will work well together to again make the Dolphins one of the strongest teams in the league."

Marino holds every major passing record for the Dolphins and virtually every such record for the NFL, including most attempts, completions, yards and touchdown passes.

He spent 17 seasons with Miami from 1983-99. During his career, he played in 242 games, including 240 starts, and threw for 61,361 yards and 420 touchdowns.

The one thing Marino could not accomplish for the Dolphins was a Super Bowl victory, something he will be expected to bring in his new role. However, he has no NFL front office experience, having spent his post-playing days as a football analyst for CBS and HBO.

One day after the Dolphins defeated the New York Jets to finish the 2003 season at 10-6, Miami ended speculation swirling around the status of Wannstedt by awarding him a two-year contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2006 season.

However, part of that deal had Wannstedt giving up his football operations duties, including the general manager post. The Dolphins announced at that time that they would be restructuring their football operations, believing that it is too difficult for one individual to be responsible for both coaching and player personnel matters in today's NFL.

Other candidates for the GM position included Ted Thompson, Seattle's vice president of football operations, Tampa Bay director of player personnel Tim Ruskell, former Seattle and New Orleans GM Randy Mueller, Baltimore Ravens director of player personnel Phil Savage, former Miami wide receiver Paul Warfield and New York Giants director of player personnel Jerry Reese.