Dolphins officially announce Chan Gailey, other coaching hires

The Miami Dolphins on Monday officially announced several coaching hires and a promotion. The moves, all of which were already reported but not yet made official, complete a shake up of head coach Brian Flores’ staff as he moves into his second season. The moves come following Miami firing offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea as well as seeing defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski take positions with the New York Giants.

“We’re evaluating everything – players, coaches. I’m evaluating myself – I probably should’ve thrown a couple more red flags over the course of the season,” Flores said on Monday discussing the coaching changes. “Everything is being evaluated. I think that’s the right approach you need to take after a season, just to reflect and make sure you’re doing things the right way and in the best interest of the Dolphins.”

Shoring up the coaching staff, Miami promoted defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer to defensive coordinator, while hiring Chan Gailey as the offensive coordinator, Robby Brown as quarterbacks coach, Austin Clark as outside linebackers coach, Curt Kuntz as assistant defensive backs coach, and Steve Marshall as offensive line coach.

Boyer joined Miami last year, his 15th in the league. After six years working up from a graduate assistant to defensive coordinator in the college ranks, Boyer joined the New England Patriots in 2006 as a defensive assistant, moving to defensive backs coach in 2009, then cornerbacks coach in 2012 before joining the Dolphins.

“Josh and I have coached together for 14 years,” Flores said of Boyer. “He is smart, innovative, a great teacher and a strong communicator.”

Gailey comes out of retirement to take over as the Miami offensive coordinator, the second time he has held that title. Entering his 21st season as an NFL coach, Gailey has previously worked as the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets from 2015 through 2016, the head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 2010 through 2012, the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008, the Dolphins offensive coordinator from 2000 through 2001, the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 1998 through 1999, the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1996 through 1997 and the Steelers wide receivers coach from 1994 through 1995, the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Denver Broncos from 1989 through 1990 as well as the team’s quarterback coach in 1988, the wide receivers and tight ends coach in 1987, and the tight ends and special teams coach from 1985 through 1986.

“Chan is innovative and well respected around the NFL as a great teacher and offensive mind. I know from competing against him how tough his offenses are to defend. I look forward to the leadership and experience his years as a head coach and directing offenses will bring to our staff,” Flores said.

Brown comes to Miami after serving as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at West Virginia in 2019. He has four previous years in the NFL, working as an offensive quality control coach from 2015 through 2016 and as a defensive assistant from 2017 through 2018, all with the New York Jets.

Hiring Brown to be the team’s quarterbacks coach replaces Jim Caldwell, who was hired by Miami as the team’s assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach during the 2019 offseason. He took an indefinite leave of absence for an undisclosed medical issue prior to the year, working as a consultant with the team. He is now expected to look for a coaching position not with Miami.

Clark moves to the NFL for the first time with this hiring, joining the Dolphins after two seasons at Illinois where he was the defensive line coach. He also has worked as an assistant defensive line/outside linebackers coach at USC from 2016 through 2017.

Kuntz is also moving to the NFL for the first time, making the jump from Struthers High School in Ohio, where he was the head coach from 2012 through 2019.

Marshall has 10 years of NFL experience, along with 29 years at the college level, primarily working along the offensive line. He was last at the NFL level from 2015 through 2017, working as the offensive line coach for the New York Jets.