Dolphins Friday Mailbag: Is Another First-Time Head Coach on the Way?

Part 1 of a divisional playoff weekend Miami Dolphins On SI mailbag:

From GinkelisEinhorn:

Why don’t Miami media try to reach out more to former Dolphins players? I remember when you could read private interviews with a player between a media member and loved that. There’s a lot of interest from fans wanting to see former players more involved with the team now.

It’s certainly something to consider and that I wouldn’t be opposed to doing, but the reality is that the overwhelming majority of fans are more interested in what’s going on right now and what might happen tomorrow as opposed to what happened yesterday.

From Jon Pack:

Are NFL teams required to announce when they interview potential coaches? Is it possible that the Dolphins could be interviewing coaches that we are not told about?

Hey Jon, unless there’s been a change I’m not aware of, teams are not required to announce their coach interviews and the Dolphins indeed did not announce those in 2022. But they have announced their interviews so far this year, so there’s no reason to think they’ve conducted some interviews without announcing them.

Frpom Lloyd Heilbrunn:

I think everyone is talking themselves into settling for our 8th rookie NFL head coach in a row, because they don't really believe we are capable of convincing an experienced guy to take the job… Agree or disagree?

Hey Lloyd, I’m not sure I buy your premise. The Dolphins so far have interviewed two former head coaches, with Kevin Stefanski and Robert Saleh, and maybe there will be more to come. The M.O. with Stephen Ross as owner has been to go with a first-timer with the goal of being to find that “next Don Shula.” It remains to be seen whether the Dolphins try a different approach this time.

From Ed Helinski:

In your opinion, will the Dolphins be aggressive in putting together a good coaching staff or be content with settling for table scraps from the ongoing coaching upheaval?

Hey Ed, why would you think the Dolphins would be content to assemble a coaching staff of “table scraps”? In fact, one of the key questions during the interview process for any head coach deals with the kind of staff the candidate can put together. Now, whether the mission is accomplished always is subjective, but no organization is “content” to have a staff that anyone would recognize is less than stellar.

From Chip:

Which coaches would you like to be kept on the new staff, if any?

Hey Chip, the one guy who jumps out to me is D-line coach Austin Clark, who’s done some good work, including the improvement we saw from the 2025 rookies. LB coach Joe Barry also deserves some credit for the All-Pro season turned in by Jordyn Brooks (not that Brooks didn’t do all the heavy lifting). But, truth be told, unless a coach is involved in the play designs or schemes, a position coach is only as good as his players for the most part.

From NYCFinFan4Life:

I only have one question, but first off hope you had great holidays. Now the question is what's on everyone's mind , who's your fav to win the Super Bowl? Bonus sneak question. Of all candidates, who are your favs for next HC?

I’m not the first to say this, but I’m not sure I can remember a season that’s so lacking in clear favorites. Having said that, the one team I see as the most complete is the L.A. Rams. I’m also getting pretty close to thinking Houston’s defense is so good that it can get the Texans the Super Bowl title even if the offense is pretty unimpressive. As for my favorite candidate for head coach, I’ve said a couple of times on the All Dolphins Podcast that I like Robert Saleh among previous head coaches, Anthony Campanile among the first-timers, and Darren Rizzi among those who haven’t gotten interviewed yet.

From Craig:

What will be your metric, or positive steps, to see true "change" for the new front office regime?

Hey Craig, there is nothing that will provide this answer anytime soon because it’s going to come down, as it always does, to the player personnel and draft decisions, and the verdict on those don’t come right away. We can have all the confidence in the world that the Dolphins nailed the GM hire with Jon-Eric Sullivan, but nothing he can say right now — no matter how much the fans eat it up — will make a bit of difference in the long run.

From Brian Shoe:

Which coaching candidate can bring in the best coaching staff?

Hey Brian, the answer here always should include the candidates who have been around a long time and the previous head coaches. So we’re looking here at Kevin Stefanski and Robert Saleh as the two who would stand out here.

From Damian from Pittsburgh:

So now that the majority of Dolphins fans have received their wish (GM/HC/QB clean sweep), I was wondering about the inner workings of actually cleaning house. I'd have to imagine that there are hundreds of folks on the football side of the building. When a new regime comes in with presumably different cultural priorities, how much can they realistically refresh in one offseason? And how much of that, do you think, would be necessary to reset the culture?

Hey Damian, it’s not necessary to totally overhaul the entire building, particularly when it comes to support staff. The idea of a cultural change should start and end with the football operations, meaning the coaching staff and the whole scouting department.

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