MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — At the end of his introduction, in his last words before returning to his new work, Vic Fangio talked of coaching at Indianapolis back when the AFC East had five teams and reminiscing with Dan Marino about some old game. He then went back further back to Don Shula and those 1970s Dolphins teams, a coach with a past showing respect for this team’s past now.
“I think the Dolphins are one of those franchises that the NFL is a better league when the Dolphins are relevant and in the hunt,” said the Dolphins new defensive coordinator, 64. “Hopefully we can get it back to that.”
This was a good first step this offseason. You can drift further back in time to frame what Fangio’s hire means to the Dolphins: Shula and Bill Arnsparger planted the seeds of their relationship in 1959 in the basement of Kentucky coach Blanton Collier’s home. They’d watch film there after a full workday in the office, sitting on newly bought chairs because another assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, sat down on some wooden ones and broke them.
“That’s where it started with Bill and I, in that basement learning from Blanton,’’ Shula said later, meaning that was the start of their run together with the Dolphins to two Super Bowl titles in the 1970s and two more Super Bowl trips in the 1980s.
Fangio and Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel have no past together like that. McDaniel, at 39, was right in saying he hasn’t been alive as long as Fangio has been a coach. They talked for a minute or two here or there over the years. They had some common coaching friends, such as Gary Kubiak, who was once McDaniel’s boss in Houston and once Fangio’s offensive coordinator in Dallas.
But here they are together, forming as good an offense-defense coaching tandem for the Dolphins since Shula and Arnsparger. Let’s not overdo that idea. No one’s saying McDaniel, with nine wins as a head coach, is in the same galaxy of Shula with 347 wins. Fangio, as good a defensive mind as he is, doesn’t arrive with Arnsparger’s portfolio.
That doesn’t dilute the idea they’re as good a tandem at the top in decades. It’s not like it’s a long list. That’s some of this franchise’s issues. Brian Flores running the defense in 2020 and Chan Gailey’s offense scoring more points than any Dolphins team since 1985 might be the next grouping. They squeezed nine wins out of a team of minimal talent.
McDaniel brought a lost offense back to life last season. Fangio has coordinated a top-10 defense in nine of his 22 years. Their mismatched age and experience could benefit the other. Maybe Fangio’s year off last season does, studying football and playing golf.
“It was an interesting year, one that I would recommend for anybody to do at some point, but in this business, you can’t do it too often,’’ he said.
He helped scout Philadelphia’s offense before the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl. He also noted where the game has bent, with 14 of the 17 Super Bowl possessions between Philadelphia and Kansas City ending in scores.
“We’ve got to find a way to slow that down, and the only way you do that is to evolve your philosophy, what you’re teaching, what you’re playing, to fit stopping what they’re doing now,’’ he said.
This is the time of year when the calendar turns for the NFL. The Super Bowl is done. The offseason coaching hirings are closing. Free agency is a few weeks away. Everyone is 0-0 again.
For four decades the Dolphins have tried to get back to a sliver of the success of Shula and Arnsparger. Fangio is a step toward that, just a step. But it’s a good one.
