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.
