Miami Dolphins Announce Brian Flores As New Head Coach
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DAVIE (CBSMiami/AP) — It's hard to imagine a better 24 hours for someone in the NFL.
Hours after his team won the Super Bowl, New England Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores was hired Monday as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
Flores helped the Patriots shut down the high-scoring Los Angeles Rams for a 13-3 victory in the title game Sunday night in Atlanta, and then flew to Miami to seal his deal with the Dolphins.
Miami officially announced the hiring in a Tweet sent out Monday afternoon.
CBS4 News spotted Flores and his family walking into the Dolphins training facility in Davie Monday afternoon, along with other top Dolphins officials including team owner Stephen Ross, President Tom Garfinkel and adviser Dan Marino.
WATCH FLORES ARRIVE HERE:
Flores and Miami general manager Chris Grier both started their NFL careers as Patriots scouts.
Flores, 37, had been with the Patriots for 11 seasons. Officially, he was the team's linebackers coach, but he took over defensive play-calling duties when Matt Patricia left to take the Lions head coaching job a year ago. He just doesn't have the defensive coordinator title.
The Dolphins interviewed Flores, 37, on January 4th and targeted him as their choice for the job on January 11th. However, no agreement could become final until after the Patriots played the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
While preparing for the Super Bowl, Flores also began to hire a Miami staff. The group is expected to include former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell as assistant head coach, Patriots receivers coach Chad O'Shea as offensive coordinator and Packers assistant Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator.
Flores, a former Boston College linebacker, also coached offense and special teams with New England.
Flores is inheriting a 7-9 team that went 23-25 under Gase, who rebounded quickly by getting the Jets job. Defensively, Flores has a ton of work to do to fix a unit that finished this past season ranked 29th in yards allowed, 27th in points allowed, and 25th in defensive DVOA.
The offense will also require fixing. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is under contract through 2020, but questions about his long-term future in Miami persist after yet another uneven season.
Flores becomes Miami's 10th head coach since 2004, including three interim coaches. He's leaving a team that won its sixth Super Bowl since 2002 to join a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game since 2000 and plans to rebuild after another dismal season.
Expectations for Miami in 2019 are low partly because owner Stephen Ross has said the franchise will abandon its win-now approach to build with the long term in mind and end a cycle of mediocrity. The revamp is likely to include the departure of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who has been with Miami since 2012 but has never taken a postseason snap.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
