Dolphins Get Their Man…Nolan Hired

UPDATE: The Dolphins officially announced the hiring of Mike Nolan and also officially announced hiring LB coach Bill Sheridan.  Go to the bottom of this article for a couple of great paragraphs from and NFL.com article on Nolan.  Gets your juices flowing.

A week ago the Miami Dolphins surprised a few people when they fired defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni…including of  course Paul Pasqualoni.  Fans and media alike knew one thing was certain.  The Dolphin do nothing without a plan.

The talk immediately turned to former Bill Parcells’ understudy, Al Groh and then Pittsburgh’s LB coach Keith Butler.  It was almost a foregone conclusion that one of the two would be named DC by last weeks end.  Instead, the week ended with both candidates spurning the Phins leaving many to wonder if the Phins had made a mistake.  Well, just like the stadium that will be shined down by “Sun Life”, the sun shined a bit on the Phins Monday when Mike Nolan parted ways with the Broncos.  Today, Mike Nolan is tasked with fixing the Miami Dolphins defense.  He has unofficially been signed as the Phins new defensive coordinator.

Nolan has a history with Bill Parcells but more as the lower branch of a tree rather than a feeding root.  He served under Al Groh when Groh coached the NY Jets.  Bill Parcells was the general manager at the time.  He went on to coach the San Francisco 49’ers for 4 seasons before being fired and last year joined the Broncos under first year HC Josh McDaniels.

Under the watch of Nolan, the Broncos climbed from 26 in the league in total defense to 7th but faltered down the final 4 game stretch of the season.  In Nolan’s career as an HC or a DC he has only made the playoffs 3 times going 2-3.  But make no mistake, he is an aggressive 3-4 coach.

The irony of this signing is that Mike Nolan drafted standout “NFL Combine” TE Vernon Davis.  Davis hardly made a dent in the SF offense under Nolan and Nolan, for the most part, put Davis in his dog-house.  Now, he gets to coach Vernon’s little brother Vontae’ on the defensive side of the ball.

For the Dolphins, nothing could have worked out better.  At 50 years old, Nolan is still young for a coach and his past work as an NFL HC will not award him HC offers at the NFL level any time soon.  Down the road perhaps, but that would mean that the Dolphins find defensive success under his coaching.

While Butler and Groh may have chosen different courses, the Dolphins are the winners here getting a DC who is capable of making a mediocre unit something much better and a lot more aggressive, something that Dolphins fans have been longing for.  Blitzing secondary and bull rushing LB’s.

The next course of action will be the Senior Bowl that the Dolphins staff will be coaching and of course the prep for the NFL Draft in April.  With the hiring of a higher profile DC, it could mean that a big LB is in the future for the Dolphins.

For now, fans can breathe a sigh of relief and the media can as well.  The Miami Dolphins have found their defensive coordinator and on the surface he is a lot better than what the Phins were looking at last week.

From NFL.com

Need to get your juices flowing a bit? Here is a great 2 paragraph piece on what Mike Nolan did in Denver.  Pay specific attention to the first one regarding what he did immediately after being hired in Denver.  Expect him to do the same in Miami.

"Known as a defensive wizard, Nolan jumped at the challenge. He holed up in his office last offseason as he installed a new look and shuffled personnel. The Broncos tried to give Nolan the pieces, bringing in perennial Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins to serve as a leader and add a swagger that had been missing.One of the biggest beneficiaries of Nolan’s system was defensive end/linebacker Elvis Dumervil, who was able to use his long arms and low center of gravity off the edge of the line. Dumervil turned in a Pro Bowl season, finishing with an NFL-leading and team-record 17 sacks."