How the Sam and Pat Dolphins Reunion Came About and What They Hope to Accomplish
Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain formed the best cornerback tandem in Miami Dolphins history, and they're now back together with the organization to coach the current players at that position.
That can't possibly lead to insane expectations for a group that's been pretty good as it is the past few seasons, right?
Well, Surtain wants to make sure everyone knows it's not that simple.
“It don’t work like that," Surtain said during the 1-hour media session involving Dolphins assistant coaches Wednesday. "There's a lot of work involved, a lot of studying and coaching. We have a good group back there with X and Byron and Jevon. We have guys that are really, really good players. Our job is to enhance that, so that we can have a dominant defense each and every week. Our job is to teach these guys, get them motivated to go out there and do their very best on Sundays."
The current group of Dolphins cornerbacks is led by three-time Pro Bowl selection Xavien Howard and fellow starter Byron Jones, a tandem that just might rank as the second-best in team history behind Madison and Surtain — who now will coach them as CB coach/pass game coordinator and defensive assistant, respectively.
Madison says he'd have no issue taking a back seat to a group of cornerbacks he coached.
"It’s good, because you want to be labeled as the best and when you’re labeled as the best, you have to go out there and you have to perform the best," he said. "So I’m hoping these guys can take the next step and be the best and be better than we were.
"Records are made to broken, tandems are made to be outplayed. Yeah, we want them to outplay us; that means we’re doing something good."
How the Sam-Pat Reunion Came About
Madison and Surtain put down roots in South Florida during their time with the Dolphins, and they stayed in touch through the years even after Surtain was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs by Nick Saban in 2005.
Prior to joining the Chiefs coaching staff in 2019, Madison worked as an assistant coach at high school powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas and served as an analyst for Dolphins web show The Finsiders and on postgame television shows for years. He commuted between Kansas City and South Florida to not disrupt his kids' schooling and when he spoke at Media Day prior to Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium, he made it clear the Dolphins remained close to his heart.
As for Surtain, he spent the past six years as head coach at another high school powerhouse, Plantation American Heritage, where he won three state titles and coached his son, Patrick Surtain II, who became the ninth overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft after playing at Alabama.
And, yes, Madison and Surtain had had conversations about someday coaching together, though Madison thought it was more likely to come at the college level with Surtain becoming a head coach after his years of excellence at the high school level.
But obviously it didn't work out that way, though Madison had no reason to think the Dolphins hook-up would materialize at this time, particularly since he had a year left on his contract with the Chiefs.
That was just a small part of the elaborate story of how the Sam and Pat Dolphins reunion came about.
Start with the fact the Dolphins didn't even a cornerbacks coach right after they hired Mike McDaniel because they were looking to retain Charles Burks from the 2021 staff.
But then everything changed when Burks decided to leave to take a position with the Cincinnati Bengals.
This is where Andy Reid came in.
The Dolphins needed his permission to allow Madison to make the lateral move because he was under contract, and Reid not only granted it but helped Madison through the interview process.
The way Madison explained it, it was Reid who called him to let him know the Dolphins were interested in bringing him on board.
"Coach Reid is one of the best guys in the game," Madison said. "And I had to ask him for his guidance. That's why I took my hat off to him as one of the best. He was like, 'Sam, listen, you're under contract. Normally, I would deny this but because of your situation, the way that I've seen you around here with these players, I respect that.' These are things that he said. 'You played for this (Dolphins) organization for a long time at a high level. Your family is there, your house is there, your kids aren't getting any younger. So I'm going to grant you this opportunity.' So I just thank him and he wished me well. He did say he was going to miss me and I said, 'Well, I'm going to miss you too, Big Red.' He gave me an opportunity.”
On the day he signed his contract to join the Dolphins as a coach, Madison went to see his daughter play lacrosse at St. Thomas Aquinas before watching his 11-year-old son play the same sport.
Meanwhile, Surtain was getting ready to go to the Baptist Health Training Complex for his interview after reaching out to the Dolphins and sending his resume following the head-coaching change.
Surtain said he was ready for another challenge after six years at American Heritage, though he wasn't going to take just any job.
Accepting an offer from the Dolphins was a no-brainer.
And, just like that, the Sam and Pat reunion was a done deal.
“Oh man, he's a wealth of knowledge," Madison said. "Now listen, he's an almanac. I don't care. You can sit here, you can ask him something about track. You can ask about baseball, hockey, tennis. He could just throw it right out there. And that's the way he's been since 1998. The first time I met him, he could just sit down and run stuff down. So to be able to again ... we were able to make adjustments in game when we played together. Because he sees some things, I'll be able to see some things and now we'll be able to collaborate on those things and get it to our players. And hopefully they'll be able to go out there and execute it.
"So I know one thing for sure when we were out there together, we were always communicating. Even when he left in ’05 we communicated and now we're right across the hall from one another and we'll be right on side by side. We'll be able to communicate something to our players and be able to get them to be their best.”
