The Miami Dolphins are hiring Jeff Hafley as their new head coach. The hire comes after a week of virtual interviews with eight candidates and three in-person interviews. Hafley, the former defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, joins Miami as he completed an in-person interview on Monday, following up a virtual meeting last week.
The Dolphins announced the completion of an interview with Hafley on Monday evening, with multiple media reports immediately indicating the two sides were working to come to an agreement on a contract.
Miami held virtual interviews with Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, Hafley, Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula. Along with Hafley, the held in-person interviews with Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, and former Cleveland Browns (and new Atlanta Falcons) head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Who is Jeff Hafley?
Hafley began his coaching career at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2001 as a running backs coach. He spent the next two years as a defensive assistant at Albany before working for two years as their defensive backs coach. In 2006, he starting a five-year stint with at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach. In 2011, he was the defensive backs coach at Rutgers.
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His first move into the NFL began in 2012 when he was named as assistant defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was promoted to defensive backs coach in 2013, then took the same position with the Cleveland Browns in 2014. He joined the San Francisco 49ers as their defensive backs coach in 2016.
In 2019, Hafley became the co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Ohio State before being named the head coach at Boston College in 2020. He held that position for four seasons, compiling a 22-26 record, including a win in the 2023 Fenway Bowl. He also qualified Boston College for bowl games in 2020 and 2021, but COVID-19 concerns cancelled those games.
In 2024, Hafley stepped down from his position at Boston College to become the Packers’ defensive coordinator.
”He wants to go coach football again in a league that is all about football,” a source told ESPN’s Pete Thamel in January 2024. “College coaching has become fundraising, NIL and recruiting your own team and transfers. There’s no time to coach football anymore. A lot of things that he went back to college for have disappeared.”
Hafley replaces Mike McDaniel
Hafley replaces Mike McDaniel who was fired after four seasons with the Dolphins. McDaniel took over the team in 2022, replacing Brian Flores. The Dolphins qualified for the playoffs in each of the first two seasons under McDaniel, trailing the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East both years, but clinching wild-card positions. Miami was 9-8 and 11-6 in those seasons, but lost both playoff games.
The 2023 Dolphins had the league’s top offense, averaging over 400 yards per game. They were first in the league in passing offense and sixth in rushing offense for the year. They finished second in the league in scoring offense, averaging 29.2 points score per game.
Things went downhill quickly for McDaniel and the Dolphins, however. In 2025, Miami was 26th in total offense, averaging just over 300 yards per game. They were 25th in the league in passing offense, with the explosiveness of 2023 a distant memory. They were 13th in rushing offense, but their 20.4 points per game dropped them to 25th in the NFL for the year.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was an MVP candidate in 2023 and was selected to the Pro Bowl after leading the league in passing yards, has regressed into a shell of his former self. McDaniel, hired in no small part for his ability to work with Tagovailoa and maximize his ability, ultimately had to bench the 2020 fifth-overall pick in favor of seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers for the final three games in 2025.
The hire of Hafley gives the Dolphins their 12th head coach in franchise history, not including three interim head coaches.
Miami’s head coaches have been:
- George Wilson (1966-1969, 25-39-2)
- Don Shula (1970-1995, 274-147-2)
- Jimmy Johnson (1996-1999, 38-31)
- Dave Wannstedt (2000-2004, 43-33)
- Jim Bates (2004, 3-4)
- Nick Saban (2005-2006, 15-17)
- Cam Cameron (2007, 1-15)
- Tony Sparano (29-33)
- Todd Bowles (2-1)
- Joe Philbin (2012-2015, 24-28)
- Dan Campbell (5-7)
- Adam Gase (2016-2018, 23-26)
- Brian Flores (2019-2021, 24-25)
- Mike McDaniel (2022-2025, 35-35)
Note: Records include regular season and playoff results.
Dolphins raiding Packers this offseason
The hiring of Hafley comes shortly after the Dolphins hired Jon-Eric Sullivan as the team’s new general manager, replacing Chris Grier. Like Hafley, Sullivan was working with the Packers prior to being hired by Miami.
Sullivan started his NFL career as a football operations assistant with Green Bay in 2004, continuing as a scout in 2008. As a scout, Hafley worked the NFL Scouting Combine and in various regions around the country.
In 2016, Hafley was named the team’s director of college scouting before being promote to co-director of player personnel in 2018. He was named the Packers’ vice president of player personnel in 2022, holding that title until he was hired by the Dolphins nine days ago.
The relationship between Sullivan and Hafley should allow the two to quickly design their offseason plans as they look to turn around a struggling Dolphins franchise. Sullivan will work to bring the team’s salary cap mess under control, with Miami projected to be $30 million over the cap before they even make a decision on the future of Tagovailoa, while Hafley will have to return discipline and accountability to a locker room that failed to police itself at times under McDaniel.
Hafley will also have to start building his staff, including hiring offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators. He could target position coaches with the Packers to build out some of the key spots, but nothing has been announced.
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