Dolphins Coaching Search: The Obvious Candidate Never Mentioned

The Miami Dolphins again are looking for a new head coach, and their search hasn't included one candidate who seems to check a lot of boxes

The Miami Dolphins have been connected to seven different candidates in their search for a new head coach, eight if we're counting Jim Harbaugh, who hasn't been interviewed but is lurking as a possible replacement for Brian Flores.

But there's one NFL assistant coach out there who hasn't been mentioned who would seem like a great candidate, someone with a proven track record of success, and someone with whom the Dolphins are very familiar.

That someone is Darren Rizzi.

The same Darren Rizzi, who was so highly thought of as an assistant that Joe Philbin kept him on the staff when he replaced Tony Sparano, and Adam Gase again kept him on the staff when he replaced Philbin.

The same Rizzi, who spent nine years as Dolphins special teams coordinator and had his unit ranked in the top 10 five times in Rick Gosselin's annual special teams rankings.

The same Rizzi who then went to New Orleans and had his special teams finish fifth, fifth and first in those Gosselin special teams rankings the past three years.

The same Rizzi, who actually served as associate head coach under Gase in 2017-18 and then interviewed to replace Gase as head coach before Flores was hired.

And this is where we point out for anybody concerned about hiring a special teams coach as head coach that it was John Harbaugh's background before his highly successful tenure in Baltimore. Oh, and there's also Bill Cowher, who was a special teams coach before he became a Hall of Fame coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Lastly, let's also remember that Rizzi has head-coaching experience, three years at Division II New Haven and one at the University of Rhode Island.

So why not even interview Rizzi this time around?

Was his 2019 interview a complete disaster? Did he leave the organization on bad terms? Is it an issue that at 51 he's a bit older than what the recent trend of head coach hirings suggests?

The Dolphins' seven identified head coach interviews involved Dan Quinn, Kellen Moore, Brian Daboll, Leslie Frazier, Thomas Brown, Vance Joseph and Mike McDaniel.

Moore and McDaniel are scheduled to get a second interview next week, and it sure looks like either one of them or maybe Harbaugh will end up as the next Dolphins head coach.

We're just wondering why Rizzi was never considered.