Lynne Sladky / AP Photo
The Miami Dolphins will have a new coaching staff for the seventh time next year since Don Shula left after the 1995 season.
Most football fans already know new head coach Adam Gase from his days as offensive coordinator of Peyton Manning in Denver and then Jay Cutler in Chicago. Gase was instrumental in the success of both the quarterbacks while he was teaching them, and he should be the same positive influence for Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
But let’s meet the man in charge of correcting the problems on the other side of the ball – defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
The 43-year-old was an undrafted free agent cornerback who signed with the New York Jets in 1995. He lasted two years in the NFL, playing one season in New York and then his second year with the Indianapolis Colts in 1996.
In 1999, he became a graduate assistant coach at Colorado, his alma mater. By 2002, he worked his way up to defensive backs coach, and three years later, he was back on the NFL sidelines.
Joseph’s first position in the NFL was assistant defensive backs coach with the San Francisco 49ers in 2005. He was promoted to defensive backs coach the following year and remained at that position until Mike Singletary was fired at the end of the 2010 season. Joseph held the same job title in Houston from 2011-2013 and then in Cincinnati the last two seasons.
There was actually a chance for him to become a defensive coordinator with a team after 2014, but the Bengals blocked that from happening. Due to an expiring contract, Cincinnati was unable to do that this offseason.
All these stops along the way to becoming Miami’s defensive coordinator have allowed Joseph to learn from multiple defensive masterminds. He played his rookie season under defensive backs coach Peter Giunta, who coached in the NFL for 24 years. Then as a coach, Joseph was mentored by Mike Nolan in San Francisco, Wade Phillips in Houston and Mike Zimmer in Cincinnati.
Interestingly, the last two defensive coordinators he worked under – Phillips and Zimmer – each used a different base defense. Joseph indicated when he was hired back in February that Miami would stick with its 4-3 base defense. Regardless of scheme, though, he said he wants to develop an attack defense like the ones he coached under in both Houston and Cincinnati.
