Ex-coach opens up on addition
Foerster admits cocaine use, sees rehab as ‘a chance to fix my life.’
It’s been three months since Dolphins offensive line coach Chris Foerster lost his job, and possibly his career, because of a video that showed him snorting cocaine. As he continues treatment in a rehabilitation facility in West Palm Beach, he said he’s never been happier and wants to return to coaching.
Foerster spoke extensively about his problems in an interview with NFL Network that was released Wednesday.
“I have a chance to fix my life,” Foerster said. “I have a chance to get well, I have a chance to get right, I have a chance to get better ... and I’m sincere in that.
“Why do I want to coach again? Because I love coaching and helping players ... I made a terrible mistake and I’m responsible for it, and I didn’t go to treatment because I wanted to get my job back. I knew this (stuff ) was out of control. It’s been the most humbling experience. But it’s what I needed.”
Foerster, 56, had been an NFL coach since 1992 and was the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator in 2004. Adam Gase hired him to coach the offensive line when he took the job in January 2016.
The organization was stunned when the video surfaced in October, and Foerster admitted the substance he was snorting was cocaine. He also said he’s battled alcoholism for the past 30 years.
The Dolphins maintained from the beginning they would support him despite forcing him to resign from the staff, and Foerster told NFL Network the team is paying for his stay in rehab.
“I’ve had a great love for him and his family for 25 years,” former Miami offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen said at the time. “That hasn’t changed. Now it’s just a friend who is dealing with some struggles and will stay a friend and we’ll pray and keep pulling. There’s no other option but to overcome this thing for him.
“(The Dolphins) do the best they can to take care of their people. I’m amazed at that ...Idon’t think anyone will kick him to the curb.”
More recently, Christensen expressed optimism about how Foerster was progressing.
“I think things are going well for him,” he said last month. “That probably would be all I want to say is that he’s doing well. He’s working hard. He’s a good man and he’ll work on his life, just like the rest of us.”
McDonald legal issues: Miami safety T.J. McDonald needs more time to complete the terms of his probation and has been granted the extra time, according to a person with knowledge of McDonald’s situation.
McDonald was suspended for the first eight games of 2017 after an incident in California in 2016 in which he crashed into a parked car and was deemed under the influence of a substance.
McDonald received 36 months’ probation, 200 hours of community service and attendance in 18 Narcotics Anonymous classes.
According to a report by TMZ.com, “McDonald is wayyy (sic) behind on his community service and didn’t complete his alcohol program, so the court revoked his probation.”
McDonald agreed to a fouryear, $24 million contract last summer. He told reporters his legal situation was in the process of being resolved.