Dolphins Officially Welcome Fangio
It's now official.
Vic Fangio is the new defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins.
The team made the announcement Wednesday morning, ending a roller coaster of sorts since the first report that Fangio had agreed to terms in the final days of January.
Fangio's official hiring comes almost exactly one month after the team announced that Josh Boyer had been fired after three seasons as defensive coordinator.
A veteran of 19 NFL seasons as a defensive coordinator and former Denver Broncos head coach, Fangio was a hot candidate in this hiring cycle. He officially was out of the NFL in 2022 until he signed a two-week contract with the Philadelphia Eagles to help them prepare for Super Bowl LVII.
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 ran out after the Super Bowl, he became free to sign with any other team, that team obviously being the Dolphins.
The team interviewed at least four candidates for the position, with the other confirmed candidates including Sean Desai, Kris Richard and current Dolphins linebackers coach Anthony Campanile.
Boyer was retained by the Dolphins last year after they hired Mike McDaniel as head coach, though word was that McDaniel wanted to bring in Fangio last year.
Richard, who was co-defensive coordinator with New Orleans last season, interviewed for the Dolphins head-coaching job in 2019 before Miami hired Brian Flores. Desai is considered a Fangio disciple, and he spent three years as Bears defensive coordinator before serving as associate head coach/defensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022.
WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE STAFF?
Now that Fangio officially is on board, the next step will be rounding out the defensive coaching staff because the Dolphins fired, along with Boyer, OLB coach Ty McKenzie, safeties coach Steve Gregory, and assistant linebackers coach Steve Ferentz, and also defensive assistant Patrick Surtain when he left to become DB coach at Florida State.
As for a timetable for when the staff will be finalized, that's uncertain, but look for the coaching staff to be announced all at once instead of coach by coach.
As it is, the Dolphins still have not formally announced the hiring of Butch Barry as offensive line coach or the firing of the man he replaced, Matt Applebaum, even though Boston College already has announced that Applebaum was back in his role as BC O-line coach, which he filled before joining the Dolphins last offseason.
As for potential candidates for the defensive staff, we'll remind everyone of the report from NFL Network's Tom Pelissero that the Dolphins requested permission from the Los Angeles Chargers to interview assistant secondary coach Tom Donatell.
There are two clear links there with Fangio, the first being that he's the son of longtime Fangio colleague Ed Donatell. The second is that 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.
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.
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.
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FANGIO'S IMPRESSIVE NFL RESUME
Before he was a consultant with the Eagles and head coach of the Denver Broncos from 2019-21, Fangio served as a defensive coordinator in the NFL for 19 years with five different teams — the Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears.
His defenses have finished in the top 10 in fewest yards allowed eight times, including his last season as a DC with the Bears in 2018 when they were third.
In May 2022, The Athletic called Fangio "the most influential DC in modern NFL" and broke down his system, which features two deep safeties and a lot of pre-snap disguising, among other things.
In a 2019 ESPN story, former McDaniel colleagues Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur and Kyle Shanahan all were asked to name the coach with the toughest defense to read and attack. All three named Fangio.
DOLPHINS DCs THROUGH THE YEARS
Fangio becomes the 17th different coach hired as defensive coordinator, including Bill Arnsparger, who had two stints, and Lou Anarumo, who was an interim DC in 2015 after replacing Kevin Coyle early in the season.
Fangio is the fourth former NFL head coach (not including interim posts) hired as Dolphins defensive coordinator following Bill Arnsparger in 1976, Dom Capers in 2006 and Mike Nolan in 2010.
THE COMPLETE LIST
1970-73 — Bill Arnsparger
1974 — Vince Costello
1976-83 — Bill Arnsparger
1984-86 — Chuck Studley
1987-95 — Tom Olivadotti
1996-99 — George Hill
2000-04 — Jim Bates
2005 — Richard Smith
2006-07 — Dom Capers
2008-09 — Paul Pasqualoni
2010-11 — Mike Nolan
2012-15 — Kevin Coyle
2016 — Vance Joseph
2017-18 — Matt Burke
2019 — Patrick Graham
2020-22 — Josh Boyer
2023 — Vic Fangio
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