Gailey Felt He 'Ought to' Return to NFL

The Miami Dolphins went back to the future when they hired Chan Gailey this offseason to take over as offensive coordinator, a move that marked his return to the organization 19 years after he held the same position.

It's unusual, no doubt, but it wasn't the first time the Dolphins have done something like that because in 2008 they hired Dan Henning to be their offensive coordinator — 28 years after he had ended a stint as an assistant coach for the team.

The previous move certainly worked out — at least in the short run — because the 2008 season was when the Dolphins unveiled the Wildcat and the unique offensive formation was the driving force behind a run to the AFC East title.

Like Henning, Gailey was out of football when the Dolphins came calling for a return to the organization.

In fact, Gailey hadn't coached since he was offensive coordinator of the New York Jets for the 2015-16 seasons. Gailey said he was perfectly content, though he wasn't ready to say he thought he was retired for good.

“I have five grandsons and I was watching them play all the sports that they play and going to school events and playing a decent amount of golf for the last three years," Gailey said. "Why I came back? For those of you that know me a little bit, you know that my faith is very strong and after talking with my wife and my kids, we felt like this is something that we ought to do. This is where we ought to be at this time in our life."

Gailey has been coaching since 1974 when he was a graduate assistant at the University of Florida, though he had two previous breaks before the last three years.

In addition, he didn't coach in 2009 between after his one season as Chiefs offensive coordinator and before he became head coach of the Buffalo Bills. He also was out of football in 2013 and 2014 after the Bills fired him at the end of the 2012 season, though he came back as offensive coordinator of the Jets in 2015.

This will be his sixth stop as an offensive coordinator, following time with the Denver Broncos (1989-90, Pittsburgh Steelers (1996-97), Dolphins (2000-01), Chiefs (2008) and Jets (2015-16).

Gailey says his terminology and offensive philosophy haven't changed through the years, though it's always been adaptable to the personnel with which he's working.

"The terminology is the same and some of the plays are the same, but I think it changed from Buffalo to New York (Jets) because of personnel we had, and it’s going to make another change because of the personnel we have here," Gailey said. "So if you ask ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), ‘Is the terminology the same?’ He’d say yes. Are some of the thought processes the same? Yes. But we will be adjusting and adapting to the type of personnel we have, so it may not look the same to John Q. Public. There are some similarities, but there will be things that are different because of the personnel that we have and how we’re going to go about using them.”

Gailey also emphasized his desired for a balanced offense, and the offenses of the teams for which he's been offensive coordinator or head coach (Dallas from 1998-99 and Buffalo from 2010-12) traditionally have been better in the running game than the passing game.

In those 14 seasons, Gailey's offenses have ranked in the top 10 in rushing yards seven times but in passing yards only twice.

"I want to be a balanced offense," Gailey said. "I want us to be able to run the football and throw the football effectively. That’s really big in the way I see offensive football, and then the next thing is, to me, you adapt to the players that you have. You have to adjust your schemes and see who you have and that sometimes is even on a week-by-week basis and this year, that may be more important than ever, is to have a system in place that you can adjust to make the players that you have be successful. That’s what I’ve always tried to be about, is putting them in position to be successful.”

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is one player who has been successful with Gailey.

The first three 3,000-yard passing seasons of his career came with the Bills when Gailey was his head coach, and in 2015 with the Jets he set his career highs in passing yards (3,905) and touchdown passes (31).

Fitzpatrick talked about his comfort level with Gailey in a Zoom media session in the spring, and Gailey said the presence of Fitzpatrick on the Dolphins roster played a role in his decision to come out of retirement.

“I can’t say it was not a factor," Gailey said. "It was. Knowing that I would be comfortable with a player that was here — actually more than comfortable, I’m very excited about working with ‘Fitz’ again; that was something that did a play a part. If it had not been a part of it, it might have been a different story. I don’t know.”

Another member of the 2020 Dolphins very familiar with Gailey is new quarterbacks coach Robby Brown.

Gailey was the head coach at Georgia Tech when Brown was a quarterback there in 2003-04, and the two were reunited with the Jets in 2015 when Brown became an offensive quality control coach.

"I’ve known Coach (Gailey) for a long time," Brown said. "I’ve gone through the whole process with him. I was a walk-on quarterback for him at Georgia Tech and then I stayed there for a little while as a volunteer-type GA person, because there wasn’t a spot on the field. Then I got a GA job, then I worked for him as a quality control. So I’ve kind of lived the whole professional life with him.

"He’s been a mentor of mine in a lot of ways. He’s never changed as a person. I had no clue that, that was a possibility (that Gailey would return to football). I wouldn’t say shocked, because he is a football guy, he’s always loved the first down. I wouldn’t say shocked, but I had no idea it was coming or that he was going to do that.”