Last Friday, the Miami Dolphins came to terms with their new head coach, Joe Philbin.  This Friday, the Dolphins agreed to contract terms with two men that go a long way towards helping Philbin be a successful coach.  As a surprise to no one, according to Jason LaCanfora, the Dolphins have agreed to make Mike Sherman their new offensive coordinator and Kevin Coyle their new defensive coordinator:

@JasonLaCanfora: “Mike Sherman and Kevin Coyle have agreed to terms with Miami to be coordinators. Contracts to be signed shortly #insideslant“

After Mike Nolan left the Dolphins to join the Atlanta Falcons as their defensive coordinator, the Dolphins called on Coyle, the now former defensive backs coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.  Coyle was with the Bengals for 11 seasons and will help the Dolphins transition to a 4-3 defense.  It’s likely that Coyle will bring a lot of the schemes that Mike Zimmer uses with the Bengals.  In 2011, the Bengals finished 7th in the NFL in total defense and 9th in the NFL against the pass.  Coyle’s addition should help the Dolphins young secondary, helping Vontae Davis and Sean Smith take the next step in their development.

As we have said for the last few days, Mike Sherman is a very solid hire by the Dolphins.  Sherman is a long time friend of Joe Philbin and will bring a form of the West Coast offense to the Dolphins. Sherman was actually Philbin’s English teacher back in the 1970′s!  Later, Sherman would bring Philbin to the Packers as a line coach, giving him his NFL break in 2003.  We like the Sherman hire for a few reasons.  First, he was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 2000-2005.  He won 3 division titles and took the Packers to the playoffs in 4 of his 6 seasons.  His head coaching experience should be a valuable asset to first time head coach, Philbin.

We also like Sherman because his most recent head coaching position was at Texas A&M.  Sherman’s insight into college players will be valuable in the draft process.  The name we expect to hear a lot of now is Ryan Tannehill.  Tannehill was the QB for Sherman at Texas A&M last season.  If anyone knows that Tannehill can play in the NFL, it’s Sherman.   Sherman also knows if his has flaws that will prevent him from being an NFL QB.  Interestingly, Sherman’s Aggies beat up on the Baylor Bears 55-28 this season….so Sherman also had an up close look at potential draft target, Robert Griffin 3rd.

With Sherman taking over as offensive coordinator, it means that Brian Daboll will be looking for work elsewhere.  I imagine Daboll sitting at his desk yesterday, when Sherman arrived in Davie and the interaction went something like this:

In all seriousness, we really like these hires by the Dolphins.  They are getting 2 men with a lot of NFL coaching experience which will be invaluable to Joe Philbin.  The Dolphins will look to fill out the remainder of their coaching staff over the next few weeks with various offensive and defensive assistants.  One thing is certain, the Dolphins will look much different in 2012.  We’ve explained how the Dolphins will look with their new 4-3 defense and new West Coast Offense.  Hopefully, the changes will bring the winning tradition back to the Dolphins….we’ve waited long enough!

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