Demanding and old-school, Vic Fangio, Butch Barry raise Dolphins standard | Schad
MIAMI GARDENS — Butch Barry practices yoga.
"Hot yoga," Barry, the Dolphins' first-year offensive line coach, said Friday.
Barry is intense, passionate and emotional. It's a bit hard to envision, but when he's doing yoga, he's at peace.
"I think just the mechanism of breathing," Barry said. "I think that's something that really gets lost is tying your brain and your body together."
Barry's mission is to help the Dolphins' offensive linemen marry their brains and bodies in 2023.
If he can do that, it will bring quarterback Tua Tagovailoa some peace.
Barry's mission is to coach up the unit to fail less and dominate more.
"You have to establish every day the mindset of, 'Here's who we are, and here's how we do it,' " Barry said.
After his first season as head coach, Mike McDaniel fired his offensive line coach and his defensive coordinator.
In their places, McDaniel hired Barry and Vic Fangio, two veteran coaches with demanding reputations.
Mike McDaniel hired two old-school, demanding coaches
Again, put simply, Miami's offensive line has not been good enough in recent years. And Miami's defense has not been as good as it should be in recent years.
So McDaniel, affable, charming and witty, hired two no-nonsense veterans to whip those units into shape.
"Don’t ask (Barry) what type of job he’s doing because he’ll grumble, ‘We need to be better today,’ " McDaniel quipped this week. "Which is ultimately what I think players really yearn for.”
Barry, who spent a year at the University of Miami and also had stops with the Bucs, Packers, 49ers and Broncos, can be easily seen and heard at Dolphins practices.
Yes, line coach Butch Barry gets loud
"He’s a loud personality but he means well," guard Robert Hunt said. "He knows what he wants."
Barry understands the scheme McDaniel and offensive coordinator Frank Smith have installed. And he knows how it should look and feel.
As Hunt explains, "What we want to have is a standard."
That's exactly what Miami has needed. Raised standards.
Dolphins' Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson progressing on bumpy roads
Miami's offensive line potentially has, from left to right, Pro Bowler-second rounder-second rounder-second rounder-first rounder. This unit has the potential to be better.
"I like his intensity," tackle Austin Jackson said of Barry. "He’s very intense. How he goes about things is very deliberate. He does a good job of keeping us intense. He just brings a lot of passion every day, which I think we respect and feed off of it.”
Fangio, the new head coach of McDaniel's defense, is alternately described as a guru, genius, mad scientist, wizard, legend and icon.
"No-nonsense," defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah says of Fangio, 64.
"Transparent," linebacker Bradley Chubb said.
"Business," linebacker Malik Reed said.
On Friday, Fangio praised defensive lineman Christian Wilkins and safety Xavien Howard. But, in general, the man is not satisfied with his defense (though it has often dominated this spring and summer).
We're not a finished product by any means.
They're not where we need them to be just yet.
This team last year was the worst in the league on offense and defense and penalties.
This Dolphins defense has too many stars and future stars to play as crappy to mediocre as it did at too many points last season.
If this unit underachieves, it's very unlikely it will be Fangio's fault.
And that's exactly what McDaniel and the Dolphins needed.
They needed a few more coaches who simply won't tolerate poor practice or play.
Fangio my goodness! Look at these Dolphins Vic Fangio contract numbers
Joe Schad is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at.jschad@pbpost.com and follow him on Instaram and Twitter @schadjoe. Sign up for Joe's free weekly Dolphins Pulse Newsletter. Help support our work by subscribing
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins assistants Vic Fangio, Butch Barry know what they want
