Hafley on Tua: ‘Everything’s on the table’

Jeff Hafley talks to Mike Florio about Tua Tagovailoa's future Miawith the Miami Dolpins, the lessons he has learned from Matt LaFleur and why he was ready to be a head coach in the NFL.

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Joining us now, brand-new head coach, relatively speaking, of the Miami Dolphins, by way of the Green Bay Packers.

I, I just passed by Ben Johnson back there, but it wasn't as good as if it would've been Matt LaFleur.

Jeff Hafley- -joining us.

Coach, congratulations.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.

Hey, I gotta tell you, you bet on yourself two years ago.

I remember reading that the guy who's the head coach at Boston College, major college program, he's leaving to become an assistant coach of an NFL team, and I think that surprised a lot of people.

But you must have had an idea, this is the path to become a head coach in the NFL level, and it only took two years, so congratulations.

You placed a bet on yourself, and it paid off pretty quickly.

Thank you.

No, I appreciate it.

hard decision.

You know, I really love those players.

my wife and I loved We were there for four years.

We loved living there.

We loved the community.

We loved the school.

but I, but I've mentioned it before.

I, I wasn't coaching football anymore, and I wanted to be a head coach, but I wanted to be a head coach that coached football.

So the only way, really, that I felt like I could do that was if I took a shot, went back to the NFL, and spent some time, and played good defense, and had a chance to be an NFL head coach.

So when Matt called, I said, "I think we could do this if we go to Green Bay."

didn't think it would happen that quick, but two years later, crazy, two years later, it did work.

So I'm very fortunate, and I'm grateful for Matt for giving me the opportunity.

And I assume you're referring to just the chaos in college football with NIL and transfer portal, and it's just not the way it used to be anymore, and you are spending time doing a lot of things other than coaching your team.

Yeah.

you know, when I left the 49ers, I was with Kyle and those guys in the 49ers for their first three years, and I went to Ohio State to be the coordinator, and none of that had hit yet, and it was great.

I mean, it was pure college football the way we remember it.

I mean, and it was awesome.

Same thing with my first two years at Boston College.

I mean, it was just a bunch of tough guys who loved football, went to class, did everything right, and it was just coaching football.

But then, all of a sudden, it, it just became It became crazy, and there was just a lot of things that I was doing that had nothing to do with anything that I ever dreamed of doing, and I really started not liking that job.

you know, so there's people that like it, right?

There's people that love it, and I respect it, and, and that is what it is right now in college football.

I just hope that they can do something, to clean it up a little bit.

So the window opened for you to go from Boston College to Green Bay, and then after two years, the window opens for NFL head coaching opportunities.

How do you decide the right window to go through?

What made the Dolphins the right pick for you now?

Yeah.

'Cause, 'cause we've seen guys wait.

Just talked to Ben Johnson.

He waited.

Mm-hmm.

What, what made now the right time and Miami the right place?

The alignment, the alignment, ownership.

You know, I went on Shortly after that playoff game, I, I had six interviews in I think it was five days.

And, you know, I, for me, really, me- I was in the NFL for a while leading up to my leave to go to Ohio State, and I'd been in some organizations where I, it just didn't work.

No matter what we did, the alignment between GM, head coach, ownership, it wasn't gonna work.

And then when I got to San Francisco, and I kinda sh- I saw Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, and at the time, Adam Peters was there, I said, "This is gonna work."

And we started off 0 and 9, and it was hard early, but then three years later, Super Bowl and all the success that they've had.

Obviously, Kyle's great, and John's great.

So I always thought about alignment, and if I ever got a chance to do this, and in a perfect world, could I align myself with someone where we, we shared a vision, and could we go in at the same time?

So John, Eric, and I were together for those two years in Green Bay, and we instantly hit it off, and not, not in a way where it was like, "Hey, you wanna go out and have a beer and hang out?"

And we didn't do that.

It was in the office, and it was, you know, "Hey, what'd you think about how we played on defense today?

What'd you see big-picture-wise?

Let me know."

And then in the draft, it was, "You know, I ranked this guy really high," and he'd be like, "I, I don't agree with you," and we had really, really cool conversations.

So we started talking about, imagine we ever got a chance to do this together.

And when he got the job in Miami, and then I interviewed with Miami, that alignment felt very powerful for me, and it's one that I, I didn't wanna pass up.

Do you remember the specific moment that caused you to think, "Man, we could be a good team"?

I don't know if there was a moment, but it Well, I, maybe I do.

It was in the afternoons, year two in Green Bay, he would text me and say, "Hey, are you done for the day?"

And we would sit down for hours, and we would just turn on film, draft tape, and he'd ask me what I saw, and I'd ask him what him saw it.

And it was in those moments that I think we really clicked, because what happened is we felt comfortable to disagree with each other and come to a conclusion that we both felt good about.

And I think that's probably more rare than people think in this profession, but it was probably in those moments that we realized it, where during the season, like I said, I mean, after games, I would text him and be like, "Hey, let me know what you think about how we played, how certain people played," and I never took any offense when he kinda, you know, had some things he thought weren't good enough.

I was like, "All right, great.

I'm gonna work on that."

So I think there was a lot of mutual respect there.

And, you know, I've been doing this 25 years.

I could give you 50 examples of situations where the GM brings in a player, the coach didn't really want him, the coach doesn't play him.

There's friction between the coach and the GM.

From your perspective, you guys are gonna be fully aligned.

He's gonna bring in the players you want.

You're gonna pl- play the players he brings in, and, and you have that 100% same-page alignment that you've seen work elsewhere.

Yeah, and I think the biggest thing is gonna be the communication aspect of it.

And I think, again, I think that's also sometimes people don't realize.

Sometimes there really isn't a lot of great communication.

His Our setup's a little different.

A lot of times you have an upstairs and a downstairs, as you know.

Our offices are next to each other, so there's constant communication, right?

And at the end of the day, are, are we gonna disagree on some stuff?

For sure, but I think we're gonna be able to work through it, right, and, you know, and come together and, and, and really work towards the same vision, and, and that's really what I'm most excited about.... Give me the, the best thing you learned from your two years with Matt LaFleur that prepares you for the job you now have.

Yeah, Matt did such an unbelievable job of really setting a standard and holding everybody to that standard, and, and I mean everybody, coaches and players.

Kind of very similar to what Kyle did.

and, and he had a- he has a, he has core beliefs that he believes in, and he's not gonna stray from them.

He's not.

So he's able to treat the players really well and the coaches really well, but when it's time to work, there's a standard, and, and there's no- nothing that he walks by.

And I, and I have a ton of respect for him and the way he's done that, and really, all the success that he's had in the league.

Given the job you had in Green Bay, running the defense, what was the specific impact of adding Micah Parsons?

Ah, huge impact.

you know, a little challenging at first, because we went from, you know, a year before we had T.J. Slaton and Kenny Clark, so you got two big guys on the inside, right?

And then we lose T.J. Slaton to free agency, but we got Kenny Clark.

So as we built all throughout training camp and OTAs, we're, we're building with Kenny Clark and different players.

Well, then you lose, you lose Kenny, and you add Micah, right?

And Kenny's phenomenal.

Ke- Kenny, I'm sure you've talked to him before, Kenny's one of the best pros that there is, and he's, he's an unbelievable player.

So one aspect, it's really hard to see a guy like Kenny go, but in walks Micah Parsons, who is one of the best football players I've ever been around, and also an unbelievable guy.

Smart.

I mean, the conversations that we would have and talk about pass rush, and even in the run game.

You know, people said he couldn't play the run.

You challenge him to play the run, turn on the tape, he played the run pretty well.

but huge impact, not only on the field, but as he got to know the team and the players, the energy that he brought to practice, the energy and enthusiasm that he brought to the meeting rooms, 'cause he's one of the most competitive guys you're ever gonna be around.

so clearly it was a, it was a great, a great decision, by Duty and Matt, and, you know, unfortunately, he got injured, but knowing him, he- he'll be back before everybody says it.

Hopefully we'll play him early, and maybe Micah will have to miss that game.

You, you talked about alignment with John Eric Sullivan, and he was asked earlier today about Tua.

I'm sure you've been asked about Tua as well.

Just so I hear it from you, 'cause I know what he said, I don't know what you said over there, but for these purposes, where do things stand, and when is the timeline to make a decision?

Yeah, I think everything's on the table.

you know, Tua- You are in alignment with John Eric Sullivan.

He said the exact same thing.

Well, we have to be in alignment on that one, or I'd get yelled at.

I mean, so it's- Let me not, let me not pretend that I'm, I, I wasn't prepared by Anne over there to answer that question.

Yeah.

And, but, but what I can I tell you is we are aligned on it.

We've had a lot of conversations about it.

You know, Tua was in my office.

I had a great conversation with Tua.

I mean, and he's an awesome guy.

So, you know, whenever John Eric decides to make that decision, I'm sure he will, but, but there's a lot of decisions to make, and we have 30 free agents.

so this roster, what it looks like today, e- even, even going into the first OTA, is gonna look a lot different.

The Packers hosted the Dolphins, Thanksgiving 2024.

Mm-hmm.

After that game, Jordan Brooks, one of the captains this past year on the Dolphins, said that the team was soft.

That perception's out there.

Perception becomes reality.

What is your plan for changing that narrative?

Yeah, I, I mean, when I hear that, if, if, if that doesn't, like, just eat at you from the inside out, when you hear that, then you're the wrong guy.

And it eats at Jordan Brooks, just me getting to know him, probably as much as it done- does with me.

We need to bring in guys that feel the same exact way, and that's part of the reason why I love this job.

Because as we build our foundation, and the roster will look different, we have got to bring in guys that when they hear that, it bothers them as much as it bothers me, and then we have to put this team in difficult situations.

C- 'cause here's whether it's 110 degrees or whether it's minus 15 in Green Bay, I think our jobs as coaches is to find out who's gonna crack in the fourth quarter of a game before we ever step into the stadium, and I think that's what this next five months is gonna be all about.

How do you find that out, though?

'Cause we all know it feels different when it's cold.

How can you pr- project when you're practicing in Miami, with Like, do you turn the air conditioning all the way up?

Uh- Like, what do you How do you figure out who is gonna crack when it's cold?

You, you figure out, I mean, guys are gonna crack, the same guys who are gonna crack when it's 115 degrees- Yeah and we're practicing at noon on training camp to see how much that we can take, right?

I mean, I can't turn the indoor into a freezer- Yeah and all of a sudden, you know, see who can handle it- It'd be like Rocky when it's cold.

It could be like Rocky.

Go in the, go to the meat locker.

Hit the ribs and stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah, and then I'll probably get in trouble.

I'll be getting called in by somebody- to yell at me for hitting raw meat.

but I do like your idea, and I'm a huge Rocky fan.

but I, but I think it's bigger than that.

I think it's bigger than just the cold.

I think it's bigger than just the heat.

It's, it's what's your mindset?

It's, you know, it's it's, it's how much can you take up here, and, and what do you have in here?

And we need to find those guys, and that we have some of them right now.

So this isn't me saying we're gonna wipe this thing clean.

Right.

We got some- Well, Jordan Brooks is one of them.

Exactly, and there's more guys like that.

So we have pieces in place as we build this foundation, but we have got to add the right type of guy, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Last question, and this is kind of tongue-in-cheek, but one way to transform the perception, get Steven Ross to make the throwback uniforms- the permanent uniforms.

That's, that- Dan Marino's with me on that.

I love Dan, too.

I just, I'm not gonna- The throwback uniforms exude what you're talking about.

Yeah.

That's just my take.

Right.

Take it under advisement.

Think about it.

I think Steven really likes the current uniform.

Somebody's gonna have to work on him, but the old, the old ones, man, they just, they, they convey the toughness- Wow of the Dolphins name.

I'm sure he'll hear that, so maybe- All right.

Well, no, if he hears it from me, he'll do the opposite.

He needs to hear it from you.

Jeff Hafley, new head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

We'll be back with plenty more from the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

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