The Miami Dolphins started their search for a new head coach over the weekend, conducting a virtual interview with Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and requesting interviews with several other potential hires. Included in the list of targets for the Dolphins is the biggest name on the market this year: John Harbaugh. After being fired by the Baltimore Ravens last week, Harbaugh took the weekend to figure out what he wants to do this year and narrow down the list of possible landing places in 2026.
The Dolphins appear to be on the short list of places Harbaugh would consider coaching.
In his Monday article on Sports Illustrated, senior NFL writer Albert Breer wrote of Harbaugh, “Harbaugh spent the weekend assembling a staff and preparing for interviews this week. All seven teams with openings contacted his camp. He’ll take interviews with a few, with the Giants, Dolphins, Falcons and Titans likely to get a real shot at landing him.”
Breer went on to add, “My feeling is that fit, both ways, will be important with John Harbaugh. Miami, for example, isn’t looking for an all-powerful coach. So how Harbaugh fits into that, through the interview process, will be key.”
The Dolphins hired former Green Back Packers Vice President of Player Personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new general manager on Friday. The interview and any immediate chemistry between Sullivan and Harbaugh could be instrumental in Miami convincing the former NFL Coach of the Year and Super Bowl champion to head to South Florida.
Breer, in a section separate from the Harbaugh discussion but potentially critical to their pursuit of him, explains some of Miami’s restructuring this offseason. “The structure was the first piece. The setup, for some time, had the coach (Mike McDaniel) and the cap chief (Brandon Shore) reporting to the GM (Grier), who reported to the owner (Stephen Ross),” he wrote. “And, over the years, as Miami looked more closely at it, the result was an erosion of the team-building process…Shore’s now in an elevated role, not unlike Mike Disner’s in Detroit, Brandt Tilis’s in Carolina or Tony Pastoors’s with the Rams. That, the Dolphins figured, would allow them to hire a more pure evaluator into the GM role. And while the reporting structure still needs to be worked out, it at least has the look of that three-headed model, with coach, GM and football ops czar reporting to ownership.”
The Dolphins, in still working out their reporting structure, could appeal to whatever type of partnership Harbaugh wants.
Harbaugh is expected to take interviews starting this week, and it sounds like the Dolphins have a chance to agree to a deal with him. How it will all shake out is still to be seen, and Miami is not placing all its eggs in the Harbaugh basket, continuing to work other potential candidate interviews as well, but there is clearly a favorite on the short list.
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