With the Miami Dolphins reportedly hiring Joe Philbin as their tenth head coach earlier today, I wanted to get an idea of who Philbin is. What better way to do that than by turning to our SB Nation sister blog, Acme Packing Company.
Brandon, their managing editor, posted a story on the Dolphins hire of Philbin, stating:
"Time will tell if Joe Philbin will make a good NFL head coach, but the Miami Dolphins have got themselves a good prospect. And now there will be a lot of speculation that QB Matt Flynn could follow him to Miami as a free agent.
"I've read that Philbin has been a detailed orientated coach for the Green Bay Packers. He wouldn't have lasted as Mike McCarthy's offensive coordinator for the past five seasons if he wasn't good at running the offense in practice. He doesn't call the plays during the games, but he does a lot to prepare the players and the game plan each week."
Like Brandon said, the speculation about the Dolphins pursuing Flynn will begin very quickly, and will continue until the free agency period stats in mid-March, but that's not the main thing with the Philbin hire. Philbin brings knowledge of the offense of one of the top teams in the NFL. He didn't call the plays, but like Brandon said, if he wasn't good at running the offense and preparing it for each game, he wouldn't have lasted five years in the system.
Five years in which the Packers offense was top 10 every year.
Philbin should bring stability to the Dolphins' coaching position. While he is obviously a risk, given he has never been a head coach or built a staff before, he is a well-regarded coach around the league, and, if he was not named as the Dolphins head coach, would most likely have been hired somewhere else this year or next to be a head coach.
The hire of Philbin should excite Dolphins fans, as the team looks to transition from a power running offense into a more explosive, pass-oriented system. With Philbin, and the offense he ran in Green Bay, the team could finally make that transition and start building into a modern NFL offense.
There are lots of things to be excited about in Miami right now. Philbin's hire should excite a fan base clamoring for some to calm them. Now, the team can begin putting a decade of mediocrity behind them, and start building for the future.