Miami Hurricanes hire Dolphins great Jason Taylor as assistant coach to complete staff

The Miami Herald learned Thursday from multiple sources that Miami Dolphins great and NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jason Taylor has taken a job as a University of Miami assistant defensive coach — the final assistant coaching vacancy on head coach Mario Cristobal’s staff.

Taylor, 48, a well-respected, beloved figure, in 2022 served as a defensive analyst with the Hurricanes. Taylor is expected to coach the team’s edge players, including defensive ends. He fills the staff position vacated by former defensive ends coach Rod Wright, who recently left to join the NFL’s Houston Texans staff.

Taylor’s hiring completes Cristobal’s assistant coaching staff. The Herald reported early Wednesday that former UM 2001 national champion and former UM assistant Kevin Beard is being hired as the wide receivers coach to replace Josh Gattis, who also served as offensive coordinator.

Spring practice begins Saturday at Greentree Field.

Taylor, an obvious pass-rushing specialist who already knows the Canes’ players and coaches, is considered a major, high-profile get for UM. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time All Pro. He was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 and earned the 2007 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, his first year of eligibility.

Taylor played both defensive end and linebacker during his NFL career. He ranks seventh on the NFL’s all-time sack list with 139, including 186 in his 13 seasons with the Dolphins. After the Dolphins and coach Jimmy Johnson selected him 73rd overall from Akron in the 1997 NFL Draft, Taylor played his first 11 NFL seasons with the Dolphins. He then played one season in Washington in 2008, returned to Miami for one season in 2009, went to the Jets for a season and ended his career with the Dolphins in 2011, finishing with seven sacks that year.

Additionally, Taylor’s charitable foundation, the Jason Taylor Foundation, has contributed millions to support and create programs for South Florida’s children in need.

Before he was hired by UM, Taylor spent the previous five years at Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas High, first as a defensive line coach and the latter two seasons as the defensive coordinator. In 2022, Taylor worked Dolphins preseason games on television but did not do regular-season games on radio.

UM ranked 18th nationally last season in total defense, allowing 326.2 yards a game. They were 43rd in team sacks, averaging 2.43, and 27th in tackles for loss (6.8). UM’s scoring defense ranked 55th (25.1 points allowed a game).

The Canes return defensive end Akheem Mesidor, who, along with linebacker Corey Flagg Jr. and former Cane Leonard Taylor led Miami with 10 1/2 tackles for loss. Mesidor also led UM with seven sacks. He had 38 tackles.

Also expected to contribute significantly is veteran Jahfari Harvey, who played in all 12 games last season and tallied 31 tackles, with 5 1/2 sacks and 7 1/2 tackles for loss.

Miami sophomore Nyjalik Kelly is a former Fort Lauderdale Dillard star and blue-chip recruit who contributed four sacks and 11 tackles was a reserve last season and is expected to be a major factor in 2023.

Taylor’s sons play college football. Mason Taylor is a 6-5, 245-pound tight end who is entering his second season at LSU. He caught a late fourth-quarter touchdown, then the game-winning two-point conversion in overtime of LSU’s upset of No. 6 Alabama.

Isaiah Taylor is entering his third season as a safety at Arizona.

Taylor also has a young son Jordan who was born in late July 2021.

Six Hurricanes assistant coaches from Cristobal’s first staff in 2022 left the program after the season. Besides Wright’s departure, former defensive coordinator Kevin Steele left for Alabama and was replaced by Lance Guidry, previously at Marshall. Former co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Charlie Strong left and was replaced by Nicholson, previously at Louisville.

Offensively, Gattis was replaced by Houston’s Shannon Dawson, who also will serve as quarterbacks coach. Last season, Frank Ponce was UM quarterbacks coach but recently returned to Appalachian State as the offensive coordinator. And former UM running backs coach Kevin Smith, who returned to Ole Miss, was replaced by UCF’s Tim Harris, as officially announced Thursday.