FOXBOROUGH ? Joe Philbin will always have deep roots in New England. As a kid growing up in Longmeadow, he spent his Sundays perched in front of the TV watching the AFC East.
Then, when it came time to earn a living, he moved east and started his coaching career at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A few years later, following various gigs across the country, he ended up at Northeastern as an offensive coordinator, then at Harvard in the same role to ?cut my commute down about 10 minutes,? he said.
After stops with the University of Iowa and the Green Bay Packers, Philbin has made his way back to the AFC East as coach of the Miami Dolphins. It?s a dream job of sorts, but Philbin knows he never would have had the opportunity to host his home-state New England Patriots this weekend if it weren't for the opportunities he found at home with Northeastern and Harvard.
In fact, if the Bay Sate hadn?t taken care of him way back when, Philbin may not be in coaching at all.
?Barry Gallup (the coach at Northeastern at the time), who is the assistant athletic director at Boston College, was nice enough to give me a job,? Philbin said on a conference call from Miami. ?I was unemployed. After going to Ohio University, we went a glamorous 0-11 and didn?t have any job. I had four children, my wife was pregnant and Barry was nice enough to give me a job.?
Philbin made the most of those opportunities, and he still hasn?t forgotten where he came from, even if he?s flown as far south as possible.
Just look at his coaching staff. Fifteen members of it have roots reaching back to New England. Philbin hired nine of them.
Even his top assistants were handpicked from the region. Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle attended the University of Massachusetts, and offensive coordinator Mike Sherman is a native of Norwood.
Sherman coached with Philbin at Tulane, and later hired him as an assistant offensive line coach with Green Bay in 2003. Their ties go back even further to the 1970s, when Sherman was Philbin?s coach and English teacher at Worcester Academy.
It?s not an accident or a coincidence. Philbin planned it this way.
?When I was fortunate to get this job, I knew it was going to be important to hire, No. 1, excellent coaches, but No. 2, people I could have total trust and faith in. Guys that are loyal,? Philbin said. ?That?s the first and foremost thing.?
So far, the plan has worked well ? somewhat. Philbin isn?t pleased his team is 5-6, and takes particular issue with the fact the Dolphins have committed 21 turnovers despite spending time each day on ball security.
He sees steps in the right direction, but knows things have to improve dramatically over the next few seasons if Miami ever hopes to change the power structure in the division.
?We have some things as a team that we haven?t done yet. This our 11th week together, and we?re playing our 12th game,? Philbin said. ?We have to play better. We?re not necessarily worried about (beating the Patriots in the standings), we?re worried about how well (the Dolphins are) executing in all three phrases. But as far as the standings, that?s not really what we?re worried about.?
But if Philbin?s program grabs hold in Miami and begins harvesting results, perhaps one day the Dolphins will be able to worry about the standings after all.
Source: http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2012/11/longmeadows_joe_philbin_still.html
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