Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hill has shot to mold secondary
Coaching is natural transition for former Dolphins free safety
DAVIE — Renaldo Hill was the last respectable free safety the Miami Dolphins had roaming the back end of their secondary for an entire season — and he last played for the Dolphins in 2008.
That’s a decade and nine safeties (Gibril Wilson, Chris Clemons, Tyrone Culver, Louis Delmas, Jimmy Wilson, Michael Thomas, Isa Abdul-Quddus, Nate Allen and T.J. McDonald) ago.
Hill is back with the franchise that gave him his big break. But not as a player.
His 39-year-old body can no longer hang with receivers and tight ends. His playing days are long over as he begins his first season as Miami’s assistant defensive backs coach, and becomes the 10th person to have both played and coached with the Dolphins.
Hill joins a fraternity that includes former standout linebacker Bryan Cox, who spent a decade as a position coach for five NFL franchises, including the Dolphins. Bob Matheson, Larry Seiple, Tony Nathan, Dwight Stephenson, Bernie Parmalee, Jeff Dellenbach, Terry Robiskie and James Saxon have also played and coached for the Dolphins.
In his role as Miami’s assistant defensive backs coach, Hill will be responsible for coaching Miami’s safeties. His challenge this season is to get Reshad Jones and McDonald to develop better chemistry, and develop Minkah Fitzpatrick, guiding the first-round pick through his rookie season.
Considering how much Hill, a 2001 seventhround pick, had to overcome throughout his playing career, and the dues he’s paid coaching on the collegiate level at Michigan State, Wyoming and Pittsburgh the past few seasons, head coach Adam Gase is certain the task isn’t too big for Hill.
“He was always that guy getting everyone lined up so coaching is just natural for him to transition to,” said Gase, whose ties to Hill go back to 2000. That’s when Hill was a starting safety on Nick Saban’s Michigan State teams, and Gase was a graduate assistant.
They’ve kept in contact since, and grew closer during the two seasons they were together in Denver — the team Hill left the Dolphins for, signing a four-year, $10 million contract as a free agent during the spring of 2009.
That was right around the time Hill, who contributed 596 tackles, 19 interceptions, 6.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and two touchdowns during his 10-year NFL career, realized he should start embracing what everyone felt was his calling.
“Regardless of where I went, everyone assumed I was going to be a coach,” Hill said Wednesday. “At a certain point, I didn’t want to run from it.”
Hill remembers that it was during the 2008 season in Miami he began to sit in on staff meetings with Todd Bowles, who served as Tony Sparano’s secondary coach and assistant head coach. Hill and Bowles, who is beginning his fourth season as the New York Jets head coach, would watch film together on Tuesdays, which are usually days off for the players.
They’d pick each other’s brains about what
Renaldo Hill is the 10th person to have both played and coached with the Dolphins.
they were seeing on offense and defense, then create a game plan that Hill was expected to make happen on the field as the playcaller in the back end of the secondary. In Hill’s most productive season, the Dolphins went 11-5 and qualified for the playoffs.
Hill is confident he can teach this Dolphins unit how to play in harmony, feeding off one another’s strengths as he and Yeremiah Bell did.
“Sacrifice for the team,” Hill said when asked about his key to success. “It wasn’t about making the plays for myself. I had to get the guys in position to make a play.”
And the transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a daily journey.
During Wednesday’s practice, Hill encouraged Jones to start reaching out to other starting safeties in the league, sharing knowledge on opposing offenses and quarterbacks, which is something he did during his time as an NFL starter.
“He’s just the right fit. I trust him a lot and felt like he was a good guy to be around [defensive coordinator] Matt Burke and the rest of the guys,” Gase said.
“He did a really good job of going through the steps. He went to Wyoming and coached there. He was at Michigan State for a year volunteering. He went to Pittsburgh. He took the steps to get to this point. When a guy does that there’s a lot of faith that he’s paid his dues, he’s been through the grind.”