Dolphins Coaching Staff Soon to Come Into Focus
What the Miami Dolphins coaching staff for 2023 will end up looking like will come into clearer focus in the days after Super Bowl LVII, but the wheels clearly are turning.
The latest development was the report from NFL Network's Tom Pelissero that the Dolphins have requested permission from the Los Angeles Chargers to interview assistant secondary coach Tom Donatell.
There are two clear links with Vic Fangio, whose hiring as new Dolphins defensive coordinator is expected to become official this week, the first being that he's the son of longtime Fangio colleague Ed Donatell. The second is the Tom Donatell has worked the past two seasons under Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, who was outside linebackers coach for Fangio when Fangio was DC with the Chicago Bears and during his first season as Broncos head coach.
The Dolphins are in the market for defensive back assistants after safeties coach Steve Gregory was fired in mid-January and defensive assistant (and former Dolphins Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Surtain) left to become DB coach at Florida State.
The one remaining DB coach from last season is Sam Madison, whose title is cornerbacks coach/pass game specialist.
Tom Donatell, who played linebacker and safety at Iowa, has been an NFL assistant for six seasons, working with the Seattle Seahawks before he joined the Chargers.
GREAT FANGIO MYSTERY SOLVED?
Fangio, of course, is wrapping up his role as defensive consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles with the Super Bowl LVII matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Multiple reports Sunday morning indicated he signed a two-week contract — week, not year — with the Eagles after their NFC Championship Game victory against the San Francisco to help the team prepare for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense after he had worked in an unofficial capacity with Philadelphia all season.
That would have come shortly after reports surfaced — confirmed here at the time by a league source — that he had agreed to contract terms to become the Dolphins defensive coordinator and very well might explain his public comments putting the Fangio-to-Miami story on hold and creating all sorts of confusion as to whether anybody had jumped the gun in reporting the story.
When Fangio's contract with the Eagles officially runs out after the Super Bowl, he then will be free to sign with any other team, that team obviously being the Dolphins.
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POSSIBLE FATHER/SON DUO ... AND OTHER NAMES TO REMEMBER
While the Dolphins needed permission to interview Tom Donatell, they're free to hire his father, who's a coaching free agent after being fired as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.
And his long association with Fangio would seem to make him a logical candidate to join the staff, raising the possibility of the Dolphins having a father and his son on the same coaching staff for the second time in recent years — in 2016, Jim Washburn was a senior defensive assistant while his son Jeremiah was the assistant offensive line coach.
Ed Donatell worked with Fangio from 2011 through 2021. Donatell was DB coach with the 49ers and the Bears when Fangio was the defensive coordinator, and then was DC for the Broncos from 2019-21.
Two other assistants on Fangio's 2021 staff with the Broncos who also are available are linebackers coach Reggie Herring and outside linebackers coach John Pagano.
Pagano worked with Fangio with the Colts from 1998-2001 when he was a defensive assistant and Fangio was the DC.
Along with the Broncos, Herring also worked with Fangio in Houston (2002-03) and with the Bears in 2014.
Along with Gregory, the other firings from the Dolphins defensive staff last month included coordinator Josh Boyer, outside linebackers coach Ty McKenzie and assistant linebackers coach Steve Ferentz.
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