Will New Defensive Coordinator Come from the Staff?

The Miami Dolphins are in need of a new defensive coordinator after parting ways with longtime NFL coach Vic Fangio on Wednesday, and the team has two logical candidates right on their staff.

Those two would be Anthony Campanile and Renaldo Hill.

Campanile served as the linebackers coach in 2023, but what’s important here is that he interview for the DC job last offseason before the Dolphins hired Fangio and Mike McDaniel retained him from the previous staff after replacing Brian Flores as head coach in 2022.

Campanile has interviewed this offseason for the DC opening for the New York Giants.

Hill, a former Dolphins defensive back and two-time member of the coaching staff, returned to Miami last year to serving as passing game coordinator/secondary coach. What’s important to remember is that Hill is a Fangio disciple and he joined the Dolphins after being the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021-22.

Along with Campanile (and obviously Fangio), the others believed to have interviewed for the Dolphins defensive coordinator job last year were Sean Desai, then associate head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, and Kris Richard, then co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach for the New Orleans Saints.

Both currently are looking for work. Desai is a Fangio disciple and he began last season as DC for the Philadelphia Eagles before he was demoted and eventually dismissed. Richard, meanwhile, was out of the NFL in 2023 after parting ways with the Saints. In his season as co-DC, the Saints were second in the NFL in fewest passing yards allowed.

Other interesting names to watch would include former Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera, former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley and former Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR REVOLVING DOOR

Whoever succeeds Fangio will become the third defensive coordinator in three years for the Dolphins and the seventh over a 10-year span.

Fangio also became the third Dolphins defensive coordinator to be one-and-done since the start of the 2016 season.

Vance Joseph was DC in 2016 before leaving to become head coach of the Denver Broncos; Patrick Graham was DC in 2019 before leaving to become DC of the Giants.

Interspersed were Matt Burke in 2017-18 and Josh Boyer from 2020-22.

The Dolphins also recently had three consecutive one-and-done offensive coordinators: Chad O’Shea in 2019, Chan Gailey in 2020, and Eric Studesville/George Godsey in 2021 before Frank Smith took over in 2022.

Studesville remained on the staff as running backs coach after his one season as co-offensive coordinator.