The Miami Dolphins have ended their head coaching search as they have announced the hiring of Jeff Hafley as their new head coach. Hafley spent the previous two seasons with the Packers as their defensive coordinator. New Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan worked with Hafley in Green Bay as he was the Packers vice president of player personnel.
Before coming over to the Packers, Hafley spent four seasons as the head coach at Boston College. In his four seasons at Boston College, Hafley had a 22-26 record. Despite the record being below .500, his team was bowl eligible in three of the four seasons. He ended his tenure with Boston College with a 7-6 record in 2023, which ended with a win in the Fenway Bowl over No. 24-ranked SMU. After Hafley left Boston College, the team has gone 9-16 with former Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien being the team’s head coach.
Micah Parsons Makes Feelings Clear on Dolphins New Head Coach
During this coaching cycle, Hafley had become a hot candidate around the league. Despite this, Packers star defender Micah Parsons expressed that he expected Hafley to return to Green Bay. On that occasion, Parsons said, “Me and Hafley have a great relationship, and he’s another guy I can’t wait to have another year with.” When asked about the rumors about Hafley potentially leaving for a head coaching job, Parsons said, “No, Hafley ain’t going nowhere.”
Unfortunately for Parsons, he’ll get only one year with Hafley as his defensive coordinator. However, Parsons expressed excitement for his former coach as he posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Genuinely happy for Haf! (Hafley) Great guy, great person! Gonna miss his energy!”
The relationship between Parsons and Hafley was mutually beneficial. The Packers pass rusher was 2.5 sacks shy of matching his career-high for sacks in a season despite missing four games with an injury. Hafley’s defense allowed 20 points per game when Parsons was available for Green Bay, a figure that would have ranked in the top 10 of the NFL. Without Parsons, the Packers allowed 27.2 points per game in four games, which would have ranked 27th in the NFL.
Miami Dolphins’ Coaching Search Comes to an End
The Dolphins cast a wide net of candidates, but once Jon-Eric Sullivan signed on with the Dolphins, Hafley became the favorite for the job due to his familiarity with the new Miami general manager.
Once Hafley’s hiring became official, Sullivan said of Miami’s new head coach, “Jeff is a man of integrity, intellect and great passion who players will buy into and play for. He has a vision for the kind of team we will be and the ability to motivate them to move in one direction on the path towards that goal. I’m thrilled to go on this journey with him and together we will build together a winner that this organization deserves.”
Together the pair will hope to snap the NFL’s longest playoff win drought, as the Dolphins have not won a playoff game since the 2000 season.
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