Another Miami Hurricanes assistant coach leaving program. Could Jason Taylor be on tap?
Another Miami Hurricanes assistant coach is leaving the football program, the Miami Herald has confirmed through a source, and the outcome could end up being a boon for the Canes.
Canes defensive ends coach Rod Wright is taking a job with the NFL’s Houston Texans. Wright is UM’s sixth assistant to leave the program since the end of the 2022 season. Only one of the assistants, former offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Josh Gattis, was formerly announced by UM head coach Mario Cristobal as being “dismissed.’’
Wright’s departure opens the possibility for NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame member and Miami Dolphins defensive end great Jason Taylor — already a defensive analyst with the Hurricanes — to slip into UM’s defensive end coaching vacancy. If Taylor, 48, wants it, which hadn’t been revealed as of Sunday morning but is believed to be a strong possibility, he would certainly get the job.
The news of Wright’s departure was first reported Saturday night by Football Scoop’s @JohnDBrice1.
Before he came to UM last season, Wright spent 2019-2021 on the coaching staff at University of Texas-San Antonio, including as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. Wright is a Houston native, so his returning to his hometown, especially in a yet-to-be-announced NFL role, is a no-brainer. He spent three seasons (2006-2008) as a Miami Dolphin before beginning his coaching career. He was a star defensive lineman at the University of Texas from 2002-2005 and was part of Texas’ ‘05 BCS National Championship team.
Taylor, an obvious pass-rushing specialist who already knows the Canes’ personnel, would be a splash of a hire for the Hurricanes. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time All Pro. He was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 and earned the 2007 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, his first year of eligibility.
Before he was hired by UM, Taylor spent the previous five years at Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas High, first as a defensive line coach and the latter two seasons as the defensive coordinator. In 2022, Taylor worked Dolphins preseason games on television but did not do regular-season games on radio.
Coaching moves
UM’s defensive line coach is Joe Salave’a, with two two other recent defensive coaches — defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and linebackers coach/co-defensive coordinator Charlie Strong — having left the program. UM recently announced the hiring of defensive coordinator Lancy Guidry and inside linebackers coach Derek Nicholson.
Offensively, besides Gattis, quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce recently left to return to Appalachian State and running backs coach Kevin Smith left to return to Ole Miss. UM hired Shannon Dawson as its new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and is expected to soon officially announce Tim Harris Jr. as the new running backs coach.
The Canes still need to hire a wide receivers coach.
On Friday in an interview with WQAM’s Joe Rose, Cristobal said it’s not “as hard as I guess it’s perceived” when assistants leave for one reason or another. “People either move on or you help them move on or you just have to make a change,’’ Cristobal said. “It comes in different ways.
“Sometimes it might be a family thing — a guy’s gotta go sometimes [or] the guy’s not performing up to that level [or] he’s not going to match the culture. And you certainly don’t put that dirty laundry out there. You just help them find a place, because if they worked hard, they’re good people. They deserve that respect.
“...You gotta have the realistic approach of every time there’s a change, whether it happened or whether you force it to happen, it’s an opportunity to upgrade.’’
