The Dolphins a have a new head coach in Jeff Hafley, but his first staff will include some holdovers from the Mike McDaniel era. The team is retaining inside linebackers coach/run game coordinator Joe Barry and defensive line coach Austin Clark, per reports from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Barry, who signed a multiyear deal to stay in Miami, will enter his third season with the club in 2026. He joined McDaniel’s staff after a three-year run as the defensive coordinator in Green Bay. The Packers fired Barry on the heels of a January 2024 loss to the 49ers in the divisional round.
Interestingly, it was Hafley who replaced Barry as the Packers’ defensive coordinator. Two years later, Barry will work under Hafley and new Dolphins DC Sean Duggan in South Florida.
Clark is now set to serve under his third HC since he became the Dolphins’ OLBs coach in 2020. Brian Flores originally hired Clark, who’scoming off his fifth season leading their defensive line.
Clark will continue coaching the likes of Zach Sieler, Kenneth Grant and Jordan Phillips in 2026. The Dolphins invested heavily in Grant, the 13th overall pick in last year’s draft, and spent a fifth-rounder on Phillips. Neither Grant nor Phillips offered great production as rookies, but they finished second and third, respectively, in snaps among Dolphins D-linemen.
Elsewhere on the Dolphins’ staff, they’re adding former Georgia Tech OLBs coach Darius Eubanks as an assistant special teams coordinator (via Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 and Pete Nakos of On3). Brock Olivo, a special teams analyst with Missouri from 2023-25, is also heading to Miami as an assistant ST coach, according to agent Paul Sheehy of ProStarSports. The move will reunite Olivo with new Dolphins special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who held the same position with the Bears from 2018-21. Olivo assisted Tabor in Chicago from 2018-19.
While Eubanks and Olivo are on their way in, the Dolphins are not expected to retain assistant HC/tight ends coach Jon Embree, Jackson reports. The 60-year-old is a longtime McDaniel confidant who worked with him in San Francisco from 2017-21 and moved to Miami when the latter became its head coach in 2022.
With 88 catches, 884 yards and eight touchdowns, Jonnu Smith had a career year under Embree in 2024. No other Dolphins tight end exceeded 35 catches during Embree’s four years on the staff, though Darren Waller was productive during an injury-limited 2025. Waller came out of a one-year retirement to record 24 catches, 283 yards and six TDs in nine games. It’s unknown if the 33-year-old Waller will return to Miami next season, but he’ll have a different position coach if he does.
I wonder if he does not have too many NFL connections by virtue of him being in the college ranks from 2018-2023, and cannot fill an entire staff from his contacts list