With Hafley and Sullivan at the helm, the Dolphins enter into new era
Jeff Hafley didn’t have a home for two years.
Well, technically he did — it just was far from what many would consider a home. That’s because Hafley slept in his office at Pitt’s football facility, a move that helped change the course of his career as the connections he made allowed him to climb the coaching ladder from a collegiate secondary coach to NFL defensive coordinator to now, head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
“I wanted to have no regrets,” Hafley said of his two-year stint on an air mattress. “I wanted to give everything I had because I had sacrificed a lot. I really didn’t go out. I didn’t do anything but coach football. I missed family weddings, I missed friends and I just said ‘I’m going to give everything I got for two years and I want to see where this takes me.’”
The Dolphins officially introduced Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new coach-general manager tandem on Thursday, starting an era that both said will be marked with toughness, hard work and, of course, drafting high-level talent. It was an emotional moment for Hafley and Sullivan — both nearly broke down as they thanked the various people who contributed to their success — yet neither lost sight of the task at hand: to build a successful team that can eventually compete for championships. On that point, Sullivan couldn’t be happier with the man he picked to lead the troops.
“The work ethic and the passion for what he does and how he goes about it, I’ve seen for two years which is a big part of what drove me to the conviction that I have on him,” Sullivan said of Hafley, referring to the time that the two spent with the Green Bay Packers when the former was the vice-president of player personnel while the latter served as defensive coordinator. “His work ethic and his desire to win and to connect with players and do the little things when people aren’t looking is uncommon.”
Added Sullivan: “When you’re talking about partnering with somebody that you can win with that’s a huge part of it.”
With a coach and general manager now in place, the attention will now shift to quarterback. The Dolphins currently have two on the roster — Tua Tagovailoa and Quinn Ewers — yet Sullivan believed it was too early to speak on whether either will be the starter in 2026. Here, however, was where he leaned heavily on his Packers background.
“If you can help it, don’t wait til you don’t have a QB to find one,” Sullivan said, citing the Packers’ selection of Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love when their predecessors approached the end of their time in Green Bay.
“The quarterback position is the most important position in sports in my opinion,” Sullivan added. “We’re going to invest in that position every year if we can.”
With the Dolphins’ quarterback position clearly in flux, Sullivan provided some insight to how he plans to build out the roster. He specifically emphasized the trenches on both sides of the ball, highlighting a need for “big, tough and resilient” players as well as “depth so that you can survive injuries.” Sullivan also repeated his oft-used “draft-and-develop” philosophy.
“We’ll build this from the inside out,” Sullivan said, later adding that although “we need to get the quarterback situation in place, we’re not going to do it in an irresponsible manner where we sacrifice building the infrastructure of this football team so that when we do find our guy, he can go be successful.”
These tenets seemingly lined up with how Hafley’s approach, at least offensively. From a defensive perspective, Hafley confirmed that he will continue to call plays on that side of the ball.
“There are certain core beliefs that I believe in like running the ball and being really physical up front so when they know we’re going to run the ball, we’re still going to run it well,” Hafley said though he emphasized a need “to hire an offensive coordinator” and that how the team plays will ultimately hinge on “what can our players do at a high level, evolve as we go to figure that out to give them the best chance to have success and ultimately win.”
And while many will continue to lament Hafley’s lack of head coaching experience at the professional level, his four-year stint at the helm of the Boston College Eagles’ program cannot be overlooked. Keep in mind that Hafley had several other in-person interviews scheduled following Monday’s visit to Miami Gardens. He, however, chose to bypass those in favor of Miami — in large part due to his working relationship with Sullivan.
“I do believe I’m ready,” Hafley said, citing his long journey that has taken him from Divison III football to the NFL. “Will there be things that I learn as we go through this as a first time NFL head coach? Yeah, that’s life. But what I’m going to do is, I’m going to make sure that I surround myself with great people and do everything I can that if I do make those mistakes, that I won’t make them again. But I feel more than ready and more than ready to do it here.”
