Gailey knows how to evolve
MOBILE, Alabama – There’s been very little that’s absolute when it comes to Chan Gailey throughout the course of his coaching career.
It’s irresponsible to call the 68-year-old a career assistant considering he’s had six stints as a head coach on the collegiate and professional levels of football.
He’s not an offensive guru considering he spent seven years coaching defensive players, and has actually served as a defensive play-caller.
He’s not a ground-and-pound, old-school-style coach seeing as how the Miami Dolphins’ new offensive coordinator is credited as being one of the first NFL coaches to use spread-based concepts as his base offense.
Throughout his four decades as a football coach, Gailey has developed a knack for evolving.
“All coaches have the bug. The ones who can’t retire got it real bad,” said one assistant who worked with Gailey, who said he hasn’t communicated with him lately. “He’s been around long enough he probably doesn’t need the money. He probably came back because he wants to show he can still coach.”
That’s the question Dolphins coach Brian Flores had to ask himself when pondering the hire after firing Chad O’Shea following his one season as Miami’s offensive coordinator. And anyone who is worried about Gailey not being around long enough to establish himself can ease their concerns because nobody’s job in the NFL is safe.
Gailey, who is coming out of a retirement that started in 2017 to join the Dolphins, has consistently evolved, and so does his offenses, which is exactly why Flores says he hired the former Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills head coach who helped the Dolphins produce
back-to-back 11-5 seasons as the play-caller during Dave Wannstedt’s tenure in Miami.
“It’s hard. He does a really good job of adjustments in games,” said Flores, who last coached against Gailey when he was calling plays for Todd Bowles’ New York Jets offense. “If you are playing cover one he’s got cover one beaters. If you are playing zone, he’s got a zone beater. If you’re in diamond front, he’s got diamond runs. He’s a good coach that way. He’s seen a lot of football and understands.”
While Flores acknowledges Miami’s offense made significant improvements in the second half of the 2019 season, winning five of the season’s final nine games, he said there was a level of discomfort that existed with the direction of the offense.
Miami set a franchise low in rushing yards produced in a season. The offensive line was one of the worst performing units not just on the team, but in the NFL, leading the league is sacks and pressures allowed.
Knowing that Jim Caldwell, who was supposed to be the team’s assistant head coach and quarterback coach in 2019 took a leave of absence last season, was not returning in 2020 Flores felt the need to provide better teaching and communication to that side of his team.
Flores allowed Gailey to influence his hires on that side of the ball — adding two assistants that previously worked with him in new quarterback coach Robby Brown and Steve Marshall as the offensive line coach — because he’s convinced that staff needs continuity, and believes the synergy that Gailey had with Brown, Marshall and receivers coach Karl Dorrell, who worked under him with the Jets, could speed up the unit’s progression.
And while the Jets weren’t tremendously successful, they did run a balanced offense under Gailey, one where quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick produced his best year, his lone winning season as an NFL starter.
Flores said he talked to players and coaches who had worked with Gailey, and they praised his innovative approach, ability to make ingame adjustments, and knack for teaching.
“I know he’s a great teacher,” Flores said about Gailey. “He tries to put players in position to do the things they do well. You’ve heard me say that often. That’s something I’ve always seen from him, and something I have a lot of respect for.”