Dolphins consider six candidates for offensive coach
The Dolphins have set six interviews for possible replacements to Chan Gailey as offensive coordinator. Notable contenders: Tony Elliott, Pep Hamilton, Matt Canada, as well as two on Miami’s current staff.
Brian Flores has zeroed in on six candidates to become the Dolphins’ new offensive coordinator, including two who already work for the team.
As NFL Network first reported, the Dolphins booked interviews with Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, Los Angeles Chargers quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach Matt Canada, San Francisco 49ers run game coordinator
Mike McDaniel and Dolphins
assistant coaches George Godsey and Eric Studesville.
Only two of those candidates — Hamilton and Godsey — have ever been an offensive coordinator in the NFL. Elliott and Canada have been offensive coordinators at the majorcollege level.
Godsey, 42, coaches the Dolphins’ tight ends and worked with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on game days during the final half of the season. Godsey has been an offensive coordinator previously, for the Houston Texans in 2015
and 2016 and was the Detroit Lions’ quarterback coach in 2018 before joining the Dolphins.
Studesville 53, has never been an offensive coordinator at any level. He has worked as running backs coach for five NFL teams — the Dolphins (since 2018), Denver, Buffalo, the Giants and Chicago. He was 1-3 as Denver’s interim coach in 2010.
Details on the external candidates:
Hamilton is given credit for helping develop Justin Herbert, who set an NFL record for yards passing by a rookie this season. Hamilton, 46, served as the Colts’ offensive coordinator from 2013 until his firing during the 2015 season.
The Colts were 14th in points per game with Hamilton as offensive coordinator and Andrew Luck as quarterback in 2013 and sixth in 2014. They fell to 24th in 2015 and Hamilton was fired Nov. 3 of that season; Luck missed two games that season before Hamilton was dismissed.
He joined the Chargers this season as quarterbacks coach after working for a year as coach and general manager of the Washington D.C. team in the XFL.
Hamilton previously was quarterbacks coach for the Jets (2004), 49ers (2006) and Bears (2007-09), assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach of the Browns (2016) and assistant head coach and passing game coordinator for the University of Michigan (2017 and 2018).
Besides his 2 1⁄2 years as the Colts offensive coordinator, Hamilton held the OC position in one other job: Stanford in 2011 and 2012.
Canada, 48, has been
● offensive coordinator at eight colleges: Butler, Northern Illinois, Indiana,
Wisconsin, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, LSU and Maryland.
But he has never been a coordinator in the NFL. His only NFL experience was this past season as the Steelers’ quarterback coach. He was 5-7 as Maryland’s interim head coach in 2018.
Canada consulted with several NFL teams — reportedly including the Dolphins — in 2019.
McDaniel, 37, has been the 49ers’ run game coordinator since 2017. He was wide receivers coach for Washington’s NFL team in 2013, the Cleveland
Browns in 2014 and an offensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 and 2016.
He has no offensive coordinator experience at any level. His first NFL job was serving as an intern under Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan in 2005.
Elliott, 41, was Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach from 2015-19 and took over full-time offensive coordinator duties this season after Clemson cooffensive coordinator Jeff Scott became head coach at South Florida. Elliott informed the Dolphins he wants to remain at Clemson, according to former ESPN reporter Josina Anderson.
In December 2017, Elliott was the recipient of the Broyles Award, presented to the top assistant coach in college football.
He previously coached wide receivers at South Carolina State and Furman but has never coached in the NFL.
Chan Gailey resigned as Dolphins’ offensive coordinator after the season. The team’s new OC will be its third since Flores became head coach in 2019, following fired Chad O’Shea and Gailey.